You Have To Be Brave (ACT Louisville Productions)

Walk Two Moons

Based on the novel by Sharon Creech

Written by Tom Arvetis

Directed by Beth Craig

Review by Kate Barry

Entire contents are copyright @2026 by Kate Barry. All rights reserved.

A young girl takes road trip with her grandparents from Ohio to Idaho. Her destination: to visit her mother who left her behind. While on the road, the girl regales her grandparents with stories of best friend and her mother. As the trip progresses, the girl learns valuable lessons. ACT Louisville Productions currently offers Walk Two Moons, a one act play based on the popular book of the same name by Sharon Creech. The play adaptation explores grief and loss through the journey of growing up.

Salamonca, or Sal, played with a gentle yet passionate intensity by Hazel Langland, serves a narrator of her own story. A fearless farm girl with a love for nature, Langland’s Sal feels wise beyond her years yet contains a quiet sadness that is ever present. Langland shares a strong chemistry with her Gram and Gramps played a delightful and plucky Mary Ann Matthews and Jonathan Gilbert. Eccentric yet loving, Matthews and Gilbert provide a strong sounding board for Langland’s Sal as she takes her journey forward and reflects on her past.

Sal’s story focuses heavily on the disappearance of her mother and how that abandonment affects her father as well. With recounts of an accident involving her pregnant mother, Langland’s retelling carries a heavy guilt. This burden is shared with Sal’s father, played with relatable sorrow by Wes Yunker. The strongest scenes in the play revolve around Sal and her mother, Sugar, played with a free spirit by Teagan Morrison. The tender bond shared between this mother and daughter is touching and heartbreaking as pieces of Sugar’s disappearance are put together and Sal grows to accept the outcomes, no matter how tragic.

Sal’s friend and confidant, Phoebe played by an energetic Rhorey Snow, also has a story to tell. Langland and Hazel partake in an adventure of sorts as they uncover potential murderous next door neighbors, unassuming “lunatics” at the front door and more importantly, the disappearance of Phoebe’s mother. Snow and Langland share a realistic mismatched chemistry as the level headed farm girl and preppy, over thinker with a big imagination. Snow keeps the energy at a high and channels a wide variety of emotions in her performance through tense interactions with her father and challenging changes to her family revealed by her mother (an heavy- hearted turn by Devin Roos). While Phoebe and Sal are different, they experience similar losses that tighten their bond.

Walk Two Moons has become a formative book since it was first published in the mid-1990s. Sal’s journey and the wisdom she gains are moving and powerful. While her journey is her own, what she learns should be shared with everyone.

Walk Two Moons

ACT Louisville Productions

March 6-15, 2026

Studio 1A Theatre at St. Matthews Station

3900 Shelbyville Road ste 14

Louisville KY 40207

actlouisville.com