Moonlight shines on mother-daughter bond

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This article was published 23/11/2023 (1039 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Reba Terlson used to take the moon for granted. Then the Winnipeg writer and actor decided to make the night light the unofficial star of her first-ever solo show, a story of mothers and daughters she titled Keeping the Moon.

After a run at last summer’s Winnipeg International Fringe Festival, the 34-year-old Terlson is bringing the show back for a two-day run at the Rachel Browne Theatre this weekend.

“I say it’s like Goodnight Moon for adults, with a Taylor Swift soundtrack,” says Terlson, who is putting on the show through her company It’s All Relative Productions.

Devised three years ago during a month-long artistic residency on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, the show required Terlson to reconsider the moon as a societal and historical constant.

She researched the ways different cultures pay homage to the full moon, finding surprising similarities as she circumnavigated the globe from her desk. Many cultures, including the ancient Mayans, assumed the moon to be female, she says.

Soon, Terlson considered mythology, and created her character, Luna, named after the Roman goddess of the moon. The story took off.

“At the core of this show is a complicated, codependent, narcissistic relationship between Luna and her mother,” says Terlson. Throughout the course of the 55-minute show, Luna attempts to break that unhealthy cycle as the moon shifts from phase to phase, she says.

Written during an unpredictable period in the COVID pandemic, Keeping the Moon explores feelings of isolation and how the moon, or even the absence of the sun, is closely tied to mental health. Terlson is open about her experiences with depression, and says her favourite part of the show’s fringe run was hearing the conversations about the topic the show helped open up for audience members.

For Terlson, the fringe run helped remind her why she enjoyed acting. “Getting to perform again, I had this feeling of, ‘Oh, I’m back. I remember this. I love doing this.’”

A graduate of the University of Winnipeg’s theatre program, Terlson has mounted several fringe shows, including the romantic misadventure One Date City and the cautionary social media tale Filter This.

Keeping the Moon, directed by Vancouver’s Megan Phillips, will be the first show Terlson brings back for an encore performance. It is aimed at viewers age 12 and up.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com