Inspired by the community he has been involved in for the last 25 to 30 years, Don Pollard’s three short plays “San Juan Trilogy” will be performed one night only, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are pay what you can.

“The evening is to increase the understanding about the endowment for the theatre, and I hope people will have an increased appreciation for what the theatre does for the community,” Pollard said. Many may recognize his name, he has been involved in the Theatre for years.

The three plays, “Tangled Memories”, “Mary’s on the Ferry” and “Just a Moment” all take place in the San Juans, and focus on San Juan themes. There is laughter, but also scenes that will pull at the heartstrings. “Tangled Memories” and “Mary’s on the Ferry” are directed by Jane Maxwell Campbell, and “Just a Moment” is directed by Nathan Kessler-Jeffrey, Artistic Director for the Theatre.

“There are moments of humor throughout the show,”Kessler-Jeffrey said. “ We’re doing three of his short plays in The San Juan Trilogy, and the middle one, Mary on the Ferry, is the laugh-out-loud comedy of the three.”

The story centers around misunderstanding a stranger’s conversation that goes very much awry. Lisa Moretti and Bo Turnage play the two characters in this comedy and are bound to have the audience rolling.

According to Pollard, the Trilogy covers plays he wrote over a decade ago. “’Tangled Memories’ was inspired by the caretaker of the house he bought when he and his wife moved to the island. The caretaker told the couple that her grandfather had planted the two elms in Memorial Park. The play takes place on the bench beneath those elms.

“I think the plays speak to the experience of living on this island: the memories, the community, the joy, the mistakes, laughter and love,” Kessler-Jeffery explained. “My hope is the Trilogy inspires others to tell their own stories—even if not in a theatrical way. I find that when we honor the wisdom of the past, the path into the future becomes clearer.”

Kessler-Jeffrey directed the first reading of “Just a Moment” in early 2023 and a filmed production of excerpts from “Tangled Memories,” just as the pandemic was subsiding.

“’Just a Moment’ is a beautiful short play that examines the challenges of living in the moment juxtaposed with living in memory. It is lyrical in its language and haunting in its imagery. I fell in love with the text the first time I read it,” he explained. In this version, Kessler-Jeffrey also plays a role in the Just a Moment, “ I generally don’t like to be in anything I direct, but Don requested me for this part, and I loved the opportunity to speak his word,” he explained. “Fortunately, in this case, I can step off the stage after my bit and direct the rest of it.”

In this short, there are three actors playing what is intended to be the same role, at different stages of life. Kessler-Jeffrey plays the role in the present, speaking directly to the audience. “Mason Turnage is handling the story of a moment of energetic realization here on the island, and Eric Concord is telling a much older story of a man saying goodbye to a town of his youth which has since been abandoned to the Nebraska plains,” he said. “They’re gorgeously written and each of us are having a great time with our roles.”

When asked what he loves about the community, Pollard replied, “First and foremost, for everyone who lives here, it doesn’t make a bit of difference where you came from. No one cares. It only matters what you are doing today. Almost everyone in the audience will have moved here from somewhere. I hope they see from these plays that this is home.”

It is a wonderful place to be a writer, he continued, in part because there is a freedom to express one’s self without being embarrassed. Pollard added, “I wouldn’t live anywhere else.”