The Judy in Ashley Naftule’s new play Selena and Judy Go Dancing is not Judy Garland, or Judy Holliday. Nor is the Selena the departed icon Selena Quintanilla-Perez, or Selena Gomez. They’re two non-celebrity women who meet and fell in love; Judy leaves her husband for Selena, who was her realtor.
There is, however, a theatrical spin to this dramatic but realistic situation.
“It’s about two women kind of navigating their relationship,” Naftule says. “But there’s a third character, a Master of Ceremonies who keeps insisting that they dance.”
Naftule, who wrote last year’s Roger & Gene for Space 55, had a curious idea here. “It’s not a musical, because nobody sings. In a musical, the idea is that the emotion gets so intense they have to break into song,” the director says. “I thought of doing the opposite or counter of that, where the dancing is interrupting their emotions. It was a fun dynamic to play with.”
The different styles of dance, from tango to tap, also echo the situations in which the characters find themselves. “They’re doing tap dancing when they’re kind of dancing around a subject,” Naftule says, “One of the actresses does a monologue during a tap dance. Or line dancing in a big group scene, when they’re all together.”
The show is directed by Chris R. Chavez; the hoofing is the work of choreographer Cydney Trent. “I’ve never done a show before that needed choreography,” Naftule says. “Very interesting process.”
Aside from a hand in the sound design, however, the playwright is otherwise content to watch their eighth play in eight years take shape from the sidelines.
“Unless you’re Orson Welles, you shouldn’t be writing, directing and acting,” Naftule says.
Selena and Judy Go Dancing runs from June 6 to June 15 at Space 55, Metro Arts Institute, 1700 N. Seventh Avenue. Tickets are $20, available at the door or online; go to space55.org for details.
