by Luis Varela

January 28, 2026

It seems like the stage is overpopulated lately, flooded by national pride and overbearing ideologies, leaving no space for those with excessive thoughts, questions, and funny delusions. There is less and less space on stages for the outcast and the uncomfortable, instead asking presenters to blend in inconspicuously for the ease and comfort of its audiences.

Enter Donna Orbits the Moon. A one-woman play that serves as a respite of the mainstream catalogue, that opens the stage to the unusual; that which piques the audience’s interest for its singularity. Here we find Donna, a housewife, at an instance where bloated emotions begin to percolate, to stream out of her shell to a journey of self-discovery. Donna is wonderfully played by Susan Clausen, whose line delivery is often quirky, sometimes chaotic, and consistently funny; this way, Donna is rightfully portrayed as a complicated but endearing character, often balancing the vulnerability of a person in grief and the violence of someone living in an indifferent world.

Equally, it is the writing by Ian August and direction by Kandace Crystal, that fortify the essence of Donna Orbits the Moon, strategically and playfully staging the verisimilitude of a woman with layers of unresolved issues. Very few plays (or any creative project for that matter) dare to take these types of risks anymore. Thus, when a play like Donna Orbits the Moon comes around, proposing a one-woman play to unravel the peculiarities of a relatable, whimsical, quirky character, it is up to us, the audience, not just to take a seat in the theater but submerge ourselves in a character that beyond all, is having a human experience, like the rest of us.

Donna Orbits the Moon finds a place right here in San Diego, not to assimilate to this city’s style of life and intricacies, but to draw the audience into a brief but everlasting memory of empathy and connection. Donna Orbits the Moon is unconventional, wonderfully strange, and perhaps even wild in illustrating the many emotions a single mind can hold. In Donna Orbits the Moon the stage is not overpopulated, nor does it intend to persuade you into a state of ideas, but merely remind you of the hidden life that is your mind.

Donna Orbits the Moon
by Ian August
directed by Kandace Crystal
January 23 – February 15, 2026
Sensory friendly performance Feb. 7 at 2 pm.