One Small Step runs Saturdays in February at 6pm
Get your tickets here!
by One Small Step cast member Aspen Webster
I’ve been a sci-fi nerd most of my life. Ever since I raided a Blockbuster when I was nine and binge watched the original Star Wars movies, holed up in my room with my tiny TV, I’ve been in love with the idea of space. I used to stare at the big, puffy clouds at sunset and imagine I was in Cloud City. I would gaze up at the night sky for hours, wondering if we really could fold space, just like they could in Dune.
Nine-year old Aspen would go nuts if she knew adult Aspen were in One Small Step. If I had a time machine (which is, of course, a sci-fi fantasy I’ve had), I would go grab her, bring her to the present, and have her watch our show. Fortunately, nine-year old Aspen is pretty mature for her age, because 25-year old Aspen might swear a little bit or kiss someone (but not a lot! Bring your grandma, it’s cool).
Adult Aspen really isn’t so different from little Aspen. Except now I get to share this joy with others who are on the same page. There’s just something so engaging, so arresting, so absolutely true about space. I still lose myself in those fantasies – imagining myself in far off worlds facing the fear and the thrill of an infinite universe. And the amazing thing is that other people get lost in those fantasies too. We’re all just story-telling dreamers, and I have had the utter delight of spending time with those dreamers in rehearsals and on stage.
The magic of One Small Step isn’t just in its setting, but rather in the kinds of human stories it inspires. It’s a lovely irony that in exploring the alien unknown, we experience and recognize our humanity so vividly. People fall in love, people drift apart; friends become closer; they experience betrayal, joy, trust, and pain. And when you place eight people on a ship in the nothingness of space for months or years, those relationships are intensified. We’re also pretty funny. There’s zero-G.
So come see One Small Step every Saturday in February at 6pm. And even after it’s done, keep staring at the stars or at the clouds or wondering about galaxies far far away. You may be a small person in a vast universe, but your story and your dreams are infinitely important.