Belle Sauvage Presents The Last Flapper

The Last Flapper

by William Luce

Adapted by

Catherine D. DuBord

Zelda Fitzgerald Catherine D. DuBord

Director Lydia Mackay

Stage Manager Clare Boschert

Lighting Designer Landry Stickland

Sound Designer John Flores

Costume Designer Murell Horton

Prop Assistance Rebekka Koepke and Lynn Mauldin

My thoughts on The Last Flapper or…the underside of Paradise

I think the first time I ever heard of Zelda Fitzgerald was when I discovered my mom’s copy of the biography of Zelda by Nancy Milford when I was a teenager. I can’t recall if I read the book, but I remember discussing it and my mom saying that if Zelda were still alive, she would be on every talk show and just as famous as her celebrated husband.

Catherine D. DuBord in her virtuoso performance as Zelda Fitzgerald in The Last Flapper, which she adapted from William Luce’s play, brings Zelda out from the shadow cast by F.Scott Fitzgerald and gives this fascinating, talented, and troubled woman her due.

It’s 1948 and Zelda finds herself alone in her therapist’s office where she has access to her file with notes on her illness and through hypnosis recounts the events of her life. Nothing is off limits in the stories of Zelda’s that DuBord tells. It’s all there from rebellious teen from a privileged Alabama family to NYC socialite riding atop taxis to the years of struggling with mental illness. Perhaps most illuminating is how this gifted author and artist’s talent was belittled by her husband who would steal her work and ideas and present them as his own.

I love the magic of the theater and nothing thrills me more than when I am so transfixed by a performance that character and actor become one. DuBord’s Zelda is so real, so honest that I felt like I was time traveling. DuBord, adeptly directed by Lydia Mackay, keeps Zelda’s nearly hour-long monologue constantly intriguing and she often addresses members of the audience directly enticing us to join her dark journey.

I attended the final performance of The Last Flapper with a sold-out crowd and not once did I hear a cough or see someone squirm in their seat. We were all in Catherine D. DuBord’s skillful hands and excited to see her labor of love become theatrical art.