The “Donna”of playwright Ian August’s “Donna Orbits the Moon” is angry. She is sad. She is spaced out. She is, to some degree, so many of us.
“We’re all dealing with something,” said Kandace Crystal, director of Scripps Ranch Theatre’s production of “Donna Orbits the Moon,” a one-person comedy-drama starring Susan Clausen. “There’s a universal conversation around humanity.”
Director Kandace Crystal and actor Susan Clausen are collaborating on Scripps Ranch Theatre’s production of the play “Donna Orbits the Moon.” (Ted Leib)
The middle-aged Donna is a dutiful suburban wife, a good mom and a wiz at baking but, says Clausen, “a person who’s trying to do all the right things and in doing so is completely shutting out the things she needs to do. She is someone who has all this emotional content but does not feel she has a place to put it.”
Both Clausen and Crystal have found a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Donna character over time: They first collaborated on a virtual production of “Donna Orbits the Moon,” originally a Scripps Ranch Theatre collaboration with Oceanside Theatre Company, in the fall of the 2020 pandemic year.
“This is a human being (Donna) going through something and she’s trying so hard to navigate it,” said Crystal. “We don’t see a lot of ‘Donnas’ onstage. We don’t see women who are just dealing with life, and she is.
“Susan is a dear friend and someone I deeply respect. I’m not in Susan’s body; I don’t know how this feels for her. In five years our relationship has grown, and that shows even more onstage than it did on screen,” Crystal continued.
As to how it does feel for Clausen, “I’ve found this experience to be really a vulnerable one for me,” the actor said. “I’ve had to lean into that, which is not something I do easily. Diving in this deeply there’s a lot of wading through discomfort. Having someone I really trust to do that with has been important for me.”
Not only has Crystal directed Clausen before in this one-person show, but she herself has performed such a show, starring in Charlayne Woodard’s “Neat” two years ago in a co-production between Scripps Ranch Theatre and Loud Fridge Theatre Group.
In directing this one-person show “I have to allow Susan the space to create this character,” Crystal said. For the new onstage production “we’re giving it more time, more breadth, all these layers.”
“Donna Orbits the Moon” is Clausen’s first one-person show.
“When you’re doing a play with a whole cast it’s very much this game of catch,” she said. “Now it’s like playing a game of catch with yourself. You have to step out there and say ‘Let’s go. I know this woman and I know the story.’ Feel that and keep leaning forward. That’s a really wonderful growth opportunity, for anyone.”
Clausen believes “We do have a better perspective” about the challenges of mental health than even five years ago when she and Crystal did “Donna Orbits the Moon” together the first time. “What this play shows us is what it might look like for a person who hasn’t found someone to connect with.
“She (Donna) says multiple times in the show that she goes to church but that church isn’t the place to share one’s distress. Or her husband comes into the room and she puts a big smile on her face about making dinner for him when really she’s just had one of these episodes or moments that need to be talked about. She’s not sharing with the people who are closest to her. The play allows you to see where she does succeed in finding her way through.”
‘Donna Orbits the Moon’
When: Preview, 7:30 Friday, Jan. 23. Opens Saturday, Jan. 24, and runs through Feb. 15. 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays
Where: Scripps Ranch Theatre at Legler Benbough Theatre, Allied International University campus, 9783 Avenue of Nations, San Diego
Tickets: $30-$52
Phone: 858-578-7728
Online: scrippsranchtheatre.org