SALT WATER MOON
Two P.E.I. actors bringing the play ‘Salt Water Moon’ to The Guild in August
Two P.E.I. actors working in Alberta bring play to The Guild.
Two young P.E.I. actors who developed an instant connection while performing in a play a year ago in Fort McMurray, Alta., are bringing that story home next month.
Justin Shaw, 27, and Helen Killorn, 33, will put on the twoperson production, “Salt Water Moon’’, by David French each Sunday at The Guild in August.
The show begins at 2 p.m. and tickets are $25 each.
It’s a love story set in 1920s Newfoundland. Jacob Mercer (Shaw) and Mary Snow (Killorn) were young lovers but Jacob left home, and Mary, without any explanation. He broke her heart and a year later he gets word that Mary has become engaged to Jerome MacKenzie. Jacob decides it’s time to come home and win his former love back.
But, she is not so easily wooed. The play takes place on the evening of his return to Newfoundland where he tries to win her back.
To sit and talk to Shaw and Killorn, a person would think they’ve been acting together for years. Funny thing is, even though they’re both from P.E.I. — Shaw is from Cardigan while Killorn is from Charlottetown — and were both working in Fort McMurray, they had never met before until both attended a casting party one night and got to talking.
They started chatting about working on a project together.
“Then, Helen dropped three words that made all of the life in the room change — “Salt Water Moon’’,’’ Shaw said. “I was elated.’’
The chemistry between the two actors was instantaneous.
“We sat in my living room the first time together, read through the script with each other and looked into each other’s eyes,’’ Killorn said. “It felt right, it felt like magic. There were no barriers we had to break down to make it happen. Everything just fell into place. It seemed like the universe was telling us this is what’s meant to happen.’’
Right away, Shaw said he wanted to dive right into the material, explaining that they fed off each other’s passion for the script.
“There was just this implicit, immediate trust that has not gone away since and there has been no wavering with it in the almost year and a half that we’ve worked together on this project,’’ he said.
The two actors knew they had to take “Salt Water Moon’’ to P.E.I. after it met with rave reviews in Fort McMurray.
“I had my doubts that just two people could hold my attention,’’ Jay Telegdi said in one review. “I was wrong, so wrong that I cried . . . It felt so good to be made to feel. When Mary cried Jacob’s name it gave me chills. Because I have been both of those people, both of these things, reluctant and regretful. It made my heart swell and my head spin.’’
They pitched the play to Alanna Jankov, executive director of The Guild, and the rest is history.
In addition to their passion for the play, both are passionate about coming home to a familiar audience.
“To share this story with our
friends, our family, our home, I think is what (the play) deserves,’’ Killorn said.
Shaw is pumped about the intensity the production comes with. There is a secret that only Mary and Jacob knows.
“No one else knows the depth to which she has been hurt other than me because I’m the one who did it,’’ Shaw said. “I think we play that tension with a lot of subtle choices. We get to revisit it and re-explore this tension.’’
Killorn said the intimate setting of The Guild is the perfect place to showcase “Salt Water Moon’’.
“You feel you’re right there with these people experiencing this story that makes it feel extra special,’’ she said.
“This is two people fighting it out to change their destiny,’’ Shaw said.