When Jill Moray was a child, she’d turn on the TV and watch go-go dancers. She was awestruck; when you danced in a cage, no one could bump into you, she thought.
What she never realized was how the cage was actually a restrictive and oppressive place. When she was stuck in an abusive marriage years later, she recalled those dancers.
“The dancers looked free and joyful,” she said. “I was productive and successful, so nobody knew my situation and how oppressed my life really was. No one knew that I was really dancing in a cage.”
“I was productive and successful, so nobody knew my situation and how oppressed my life really was.”- Jill Moray
That’s how the Pico-Robertson-based actress and writer came up with the title and theme of her new one-woman show, “Dancing in a Cage,” which features Moray as three different women from various backgrounds and situations who talk about their lives through stories and music.
Throughout her life, Moray said she had negative experiences with men – including her tumultuous marriage and a relationship with a boyfriend who cleaned out her bank account – and she’d meet women who went through similar circumstances. When she called the credit card company to tell them about her swindling boyfriend, the customer service representative on the other end of the line said a man did the same thing to her. In the show, Moray highlights these women and their struggles.
“I’d like audiences to realize that women who appear entertaining, effervescent and successful can actually be suffering on the inside,” said Moray. “I also hope the audiences will be entertained and moved, as they participate in this live theater experience.”
In her personal life, Moray thankfully found her happy ending. When she lived in New York City, she was invited to a Shabbat dinner at the home of a Chabad rabbi in her building. She sat next to an Orthodox man who was a writer and director, and “the funniest person I had ever met,” she said. “We fell in love and I was ready to live a Torah-centric life. We were married eight months later at a movie studio in Brooklyn and then moved to L.A.”
Even though “Dancing in a Cage” deals with tough subjects, Moray, who is also a comedian, isn’t afraid to interject humor into her work. “Laughter has helped people – Jews in particular – surmount the most unbearable situations,” she said. “It gives us a chance to breathe and take a break from overwhelming stress; it helps us reset. Science has also confirmed that laughter releases positive hormones that heal us and help us stay healthy.”
Moray took her own difficult circumstances in life and made them into something she hopes the world will enjoy – which is how she came to finally write her show as well.
During the pandemic, her agent dropped the voiceover department, which was the only area of show business where Moray could work from home. As everyone else scrambled to find another agent, she took the time to complete the script for “Dancing in a Cage” that she had been working on for more than 20 years.
“Then I got hit with COVID and was in bed for close to 12 weeks,” she said. “Because I didn’t know if I would ever return to normal, I worried that I had blown the chance to ever perform my play. So, I promised myself that if and when my health returned, I wouldn’t wait any longer to tell my stories for a live theater audience. And here we are.”
You can purchase tickets to “Dancing in a Cage” at dancinginacage.eventbrite.com. Shows are January 18, 19 and 20 at 8 p.m. at The Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave. n
