COTTAGE GROVE – By day, Dale Light works in IT. By night, they transform into a swan.
The Swan, written by Elizabeth Egloff, debuted on stage at Opal Center for Arts and Education at 513 E. Main St. last weekend.
As soon as I saw that Light was in this play, I wanted to see it. The moment I saw Kali Kardas was also in this play, I knew I had to see it.
If you appreciate outstanding acting and peculiar, humorous, ambiguous, and thought-provoking fairy tales, you won’t be disappointed.
I first encountered Light as an actor, director, and writer at the now shuttered No Shame Eugene before Covid. Light has also performed at Cottage Theatre, Roving Park Players, OCT, and has been part of the Northwest Ten Play Festival.
“I am pretty selective in the shows for which I audition, but the absurdism and the poetic nature of a lot of the dialogue, especially ‘The Swan,’ really made this a show I absolutely wanted to be a part of,” Light said. “There is a strangeness that forces you to struggle with what is happening on stage while still being very familiar and relatable in a lot of ways.”
In “The Swan,” Light’s body language as a half-man/half-bird conveyed so much without words – and provided comic relief at the right moments.
In “The Swan,” Dora Hand has settled for an unhealthy relationship with the married milkman, Kevin, after three failed marriages. When a wild swan crashes into her living room, she reluctantly becomes his caretaker, threatening her relationship with her lover, while challenging her sense of self.
It is a poignant, and perhaps metaphorical play, about human connection.
Kali Kardas produced this show in partnership with Opal. She also plays Dora.
“I was captured by her (Dora’s) vulnerability and open heart, as well as intrigued by the idea of a woman speaking to a strange swan-like creature. But when it finally came time for me to self-produce a show to feed my artist soul, this is the script that rose from my heart,” Kardas said. “Dora is … someone who has been crushed by reality but still has faith in love. To me, that is a strength. We see many versions of the ‘tough old broad,’ the smart and witty socialite, or the femme fatale, but rarely do we get to see a flawed, messy woman undergoing a painful and confusing transformation.”
Among Kardas’s accolades, she has been voted best Actor by the Eugene Weekly in 2025 and has appeared in a number of plays. Kardas is also known by her alias, Jean Candy, a saucy and theatrical burlesque performer.
Adam Leonard plays Kevin, whose favorite roles include Van Helsing in “Dracula,” Wilson in “Harvey,” and Dr. Einstein in “Arsenic and Old Lace.”
The three actors originally met through Northwest Ten Productions. Light joined the No Script Society about a year after Kardas and Leonard helped cofound it, which Light attested deepened their rapport on stage, and especially helped in those intimate scenes. Though the play has an intimacy coach as well, Maggie Hadley. Laura Robinson, the director, previously worked with Kardas after casting the latter as Kate in Taming of the Shrew, and was happy to work together again, especially on a project Kardas was so passionate about.
Audience member Angie Gee from Eugene said, “I enjoyed the storyline, the transformation. The storyline was cute.” Gee’s background knowledge about swans mating for life made it a happy story for her.
“The concept of being a person trying desperately to find a real human connection in a world that makes no sense, I think, is universal,” Light said. “I hope our show is able to convey this with all of the strangeness and laughter that makes this script beautiful and amazing.”
The theater is intimate, seating 50. The tickets are reasonably priced. These are both great reasons to see the play, but the biggest draw is the excellent acting and the themes that will haunt you well after you have finished the play.
Tickets are still available for the last shows on Friday, Feb. 27, and Saturday, Feb. 28.
