Rivendell Theatre Ensemble’s “Bonnie’s Last Flight,” with Paul Oakley Stovall, Rebecca Spence/Photo: Jenn Udoni
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Buckle up and prepare for takeoff as Rivendell Theatre Ensemble celebrates the culmination of their thirtieth-anniversary season with the world premiere of “Bonnie’s Last Flight,” about a flight attendant’s final trip before navigating a turbulent course toward retirement. Running through October 25, the production features the return of ensemble members Rebecca Spence, Eric Slater, Jessica Ervin, Glenn Obrero and Devon de Mayo (director), along with guest artists LaKecia Harris and actor and Tony Award-winning producer, Paul Oakley Stovall. Playwright Eliza Bent pens a tale that pokes fun at the conventions of commercial airline travel while delving into the personal lives of a colorful cast of aircraft personnel.
Anyone who has flown the friendly skies is struck with intense déjà vu before the play even takes off. At either end of the performance space are set recreations of an airplane’s cabin, with cloudy portal windows reflecting the subdued blue light from the strings of LEDs that line the sidewalls and frame hidden compartments (the scenic design is by Regina Garcia; the lighting design by Garrett Bell). Safety instructions delivered by flight attendants on an actual flight are a choreographed performance; here they’re taken to absurdity, with a full-cast dance routine. From the crackly sound of voices over the intercom to precisely timed chimes, one appreciates both the high level of detail in the set and the over exaggerations of air crew duties.
Rivendell Theatre Ensemble’s “Bonnie’s Last Flight,” with Eric Slater and Glenn Obrero/Photo: Jenn Udoni
Flying by at a brisk eighty-five minutes, exposition in the plot is packed tighter than the storage bins of a sold-out Boeing 737. “Smelta Airlines” flight attendant Jan—played by Spence, wearing a light blue uniform, her bronze hair with shock of white pulled up in a bun—is having an existential crisis aboard a cross-country flight. She has not been grounded in one place for decades. She is insecure about her new life as a writer entering a prestigious development program, and her dog “Bonnie” is fatally ill. She agonizes over a letter from her estranged daughter whom she had given up for adoption.
Together with her charming, loyal friend and co-attendant Greig (Stovall), she must deal with a bomb threat and severe turbulence, not to mention a Bloody Mary-swilling, depressed pilot (Slater), inept junior attendant LeeAnne (Ervin) and her Joni Mitchell-obsessed ex-boyfriend and co-pilot (Obrero). On top of this, the spirit of Mark Twain (Harris) haunts the cabin like a mythological aviation gremlin, producing as much mischief as profound witticisms. It’s a lot to take in in a short time, but the plot points are delivered sharp and snappy—all fat trimmed—and the alternation between humor and pathos is smooth and balanced.
One attributes this balance to the culture developed at Rivendell and the connections formed between members of the ensemble. Elements of absurdity (like the inclusion of Twain) and psychological tension (like a moment where one reads aloud from a left-behind angsty teen’s journal) are common in the company’s former works—“Gorgeous” (2025) comes to mind—and have an in-house flavor that is bold, sly and tongue-in-cheek. The strength of the ensemble is that dialogue between actors feels anticipatory, like old friends who can finish one another’s sentences. One might critique “Bonnie’s Last Flight” for moving too fast, but the cramped script and speed of the actors’ delivery could be seen as a metaphor for air travel itself.
“Bonnie’s Last Flight” at Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, 5779 North Ridge, through October 25.
