Anyone who has traveled by air will connect immediately with the opening setting of Lifeline Production’s newest show, “Baggage Claim”: An airport gate waiting area, a row of uncomfortable seats, two giant video screens displaying flight information and the impassive voice of an unseen airport employee providing frequent updates on delays, gate changes and messages to passengers.
Into this milieu enters Daneille Jacobs, an attractive 30-something woman dressed casually in black, struggling under the weight of her backpack and four suitcases of varying sizes. She’s prepared, she tells us, for any possible contingency she might encounter.
“I love to walk the line between luggage and baggage,” she confesses, intimating from the get-go that the burden she’s carrying may not be merely physical.
Actor, storyteller and improv artist Danielle Jacobs is the star of Lifeline Productions’ newest show, “Baggage Claim.” Photo by Brad Bryan
For the next hour – as the disembodied announcer, with increasing rudeness, announces changes, equipment and crew swaps and ultimately chastises her directly by name – Jacobs unpacks the wounds, fears, expectations, false identities and stories that have shaped, scarred and sabotaged her life.
Nothing like today’s air travel to provide the time for self-examination.
Eventually, Jabobs figuratively opens her bags one by one. In no particular order, we learn of her love for horses, Power Point presentations and Edward Cullen (the telepathic vampire from the “Twilight” series); her struggles over her race, weight and sexuality; her belated diagnosis of attention deficit disorder and a “failed” suicide attempt.
Ultimately, medication, therapy and true love lead her to the choice to abandon most of her accumulation in favor of travelling light, to whatever destination life and fate may dictate.
Director Meg Gilbert has drawn the best out of Jacobs, an actor, storyteller and improv artist, who is a polished performer and an upbeat presence. Scott Ehrenpreis, who contributes his voice only, delivers the airport announcements in an increasingly aggressive New Jersey accent that’s obnoxious but effective. But the disjointed way in which Jacobs’ story is revealed – a repeated event/resolution structure rather than a gradual build to a more resonant resolution – robs the material of nuance and impact and the viewer of any element of surprise or deep connection. You know there will be a happy-ish ending long before it’s revealed.
“Baggage Claim” is the fourth of Lifeline’s solo shows designed to use theater, storytelling and creativity to illuminate mental health challenges and dismantle the stigma surrounding them. Each has relied on a metaphor to convey its message. In the inaugural “Clowns Like Me” -- featuring Ehrenpreis, the talented son of Lifeline founder Joel Ehrenpreis -- it was, naturally, clowns. In “Entangled,” by Lifeline Producing Artistic Director Will Luera, it was a telephone cord. And in last summer’s “Begin Again Badge” with Cristel Carrizales, it was a Girl Scout’s symbol of achievement and pride, a sash of badges.
In “Baggage Claim,” Danielle Jacobs unpacks the emotional burdens of her life while waiting for an endlessly delayed flight. Photo by Brad Bryan
These analogies are highly effective delivery systems for examining -- openly, honestly and with a sprinkling of humor -- mental health challenges that are often concealed in everyday life. Whether they are as compelling as theatrical experiences is highly variable and entirely dependent on the magnetism of the performer, the quality of the script and the ability to maintain a delicate balance between entertainment and education. Of the four shows thus far, the first --“Clowns Like Me,” which will return in an evolved form next April for a limited run – has most impactfully hit that mark.
As a mental health advocate of long standing, I couldn’t find Lifeline’s mission more admirable or needed. But before running the risk of becoming formulaic and diminishing any individual’s unique mental health journey by producing only one-person autobiographical shows, it is my hope this well-meaning and valuable organization will branch out to new forms of theatrical expression.
After all, as “Baggage Claim” underscores, taking risks is part of living life to the fullest.
“Baggage Claim,” from Lifeline Productions at the Jane B. Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail. Additional performances through October 18. 2 p.m. matinees; 7:30 p.m. evenings. Tickets $15-$35. lifelineproductions.ticketspice.com/baggage-claim-world-premiere
