Brelby Productions is preparing to take their successful celestial fairy tale, "Luna & Solis" by Brian Maticic, on a west coast tour this June.

Performances will kick off with two free Memorial Day weekend shows on May 28 & 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the Centennial Park Plaza in Peoria, located behind Peoria City Hall.

"Luna & Solis" is supported in part by a grant from the Peoria Arts Commission.

After performing in Peoria this May, the ensemble will take the show to Newberg, Oregon to perform at the home of Penguin Productions. They will culminate the tour in California at the San Diego International Fringe Festival.

“This tour has been over two years in the making,” explains Artistic Director Shelby Elise Maticic. “We were originally selected to participate in the 2020 San Diego Fringe Festival, but the event was postponed twice due to COVID precautions. We’ve been developing this production since 2019, and we are so excited to finally be able to bring one of our original stories to entirely new audiences.”

The 2020 ariZoni Theatre Award of Excellence winner for Best Original Composition features songs by Brian Maticic, Helen Morris and Ben Cleaveland. The newest version of the production features additional original music by Maticic and Morris.

The storytellers theater piece is told by an ensemble of actors who also double as musicians and puppeteers. In "Luna & Solis," the sun and the moon have loved one another from afar for eons, but their responsibility to humanity keeps them apart. They are only able to meet in person during an eclipse, when they take corporeal form. Meanwhile, two rival towns have reached a crucial breaking point in their tenuous relationship. The town of Partume, led by Samuel, mines and creates tools and goods for both villages. The town of Azure, led by Amara, fishes and farms to provide both communities with food. Under the manipulative leadership of Dolo, both town leaders take strides to undercut each other with potentially devastating consequences. Their children Sienna (Sam's daughter) and Aaron (Amara's son) have secretly maintained a friendship over the years, and hatch a plan to bring their towns together and circumvent the dark plans of Dolo and his son, Dez.

Luna and Solis however, have grown weary of putting the lives of humans above their one happiness, and decide to run away together during the latest solar eclipse. What will humankind have to do to restore the balance? Can Sienna and Aaron convince Luna and Solis that humanity is worth saving?

Luna & Solis features direction by Shelby Elise Maticic, and music direction by Helen Morris who also performs. The ensemble also includes performances by Brian Maticic, Jen Gantwerker, Alexandra Utpadel, Noah Delgado, Anabel Olguin, Emma Domakeczna, Nickela Rooney, Kevin Fenderson, James Beneze and Rebecca Ulbrich.