Some decisions are no brainers – what we’re having for dinner or what to wear to work tomorrow.
Then there are the life-changing ones that come when we face and make seemingly impossible decisions, even knowing that when they are made, the paths of our life will forever be altered.
That’s what author Eva Moon focused on in her new play, “First You Jump,” that closed Jan. 24 after a short run at North Bend’s Valley Center Stage.
“First You Jump” is a collection of five thought-provoking vignettes that stretch the imagination. In each, Moon adeptly plays with language. Her cleverness and humor are engaging.
For instance, in the first scene, “Damage Control,” Rochelle Wyatt plays Sharon, a political candidate. Sharon denies any knowledge of the destruction of her opponent’s estate. She stops mid-speech and confesses that yes, her lover did it. And her lover is a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Wyatt’s comedic timing as she reveals the truth enthralled the audience.
Will her decision to be honest cost her the election? We never know but Sharon took the leap, defending love and tearing down walls of prejudice against cross-species relationships along the way.
Songs, all written and composed by Moon introduce each scene or vignette. They’re often sexy, full of inventive double-entrendres, and reflective of the scene that follows.
Kathleen Roche-Zujko sang them with wit and verve. Her gorgeous, strong voice could fill a large nightclub as well as the intimate Valley Center Stage Theater.
In the second scene, “Red Algernon,” Robin Walbeck-Forrest, a popular veteran of the Center Stage, swept the audience along in her argument about why she was going to take the creative process-enhancing drug that would cause death within days.
Walbeck-Forrest shone in that and in her riveting performance of “Growing Feathers” that followed intermission. Her intensity made the two different characters totally believable. And it takes a good actor to make the audience believe she will turn into a crow for exactly 37 minutes after she has enjoyed sex.
In the “Gepetto’s Funeral” scene, Dennis Bateman portrays an adult Pinocchio who has just returned from burying his father. The blue fairy offers him a choice of remaining a man or going back to being a puppet. Like all fairy tale wishes, there’s a catch.
The characters’ core dilemmas deepen over the arc of the performance resulting in a final piece, skillfully played by Gretchen Douma, that fully engages the audience.
As Esther, Douma sat in a chair on a darkened stage and wrestled with the decision to fall to earth after a bomb explodes on an airplane or to stay suspended forever.
Douma, like all the actors and singer Roche-Zujko, make us accept the fantasy worlds they live in.
Moon’s talent at creating these worlds by using magical realism helps us explore human truths. None of us will ever defend a T-Rex lover or struggle with the decision to stay human or become a puppet.
But we all have times when we must make major decisions.
“Daring to jump may seem impossible,” Moon said in a short interview after the production. “But if you don’t, how else will you know if you can fly.”
Sherry Grindeland can be reached at editor@snovalleystar.com.
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