In The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play, an innovative play disguised as an hour-long aerobics class, two women confront the dynamics of keeping a cultural practice alive against the odds.
That practice happens to be Jazzercise, the franchised fusion of fitness-based jazz-dance popularized decades ago, but it’s more complicated than that. A campy, immersive production — opening Friday, August 21st for a six-show run at SPACE — the play hinges on a highly physical performance by its two main leads, Kathryn Kellogg and Grace MacNeill, mixing dance, comedy, drama, movement, retro aesthetics, and plenty of sweat in a story that explores friendship, ambition, identity, loss of community, and shifting social dynamics.
The Last Class comes to SPACE through Out There Theater Company, a Portland-based theater ensemble founded by local stage vets Joanna Clarke, Sarah Kennedy, and Dalton Kimball. Founded in 2024, the group has specialized in vividly staged, high-spectacle productions, including a revival of the ’80s camp hit Vampire Lesbians of Sodom & Sleeping Beauty or Coma via Good Theater this summer, and 2025’s I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire, a romp on modern parasocial relationships, mounted in Portland’s Stage’s Studio Theater.
Written by NYC-based theater artist Megan Hill, The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play debuted in 2016 in an acclaimed Off-Broadway Run in Manhattan’s TheaterLab. In preparation for its New England premiere, SPACE spoke with director Joanna Clarke and artistic director Sarah Kennedy, who discuss the play’s choreography, inspiration, and sneaky-smart themes.
All photos by Kat Moraros Photography.
The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play | Aug 21-30 | Fri-Sat 7:30 pm; Sun 1 pm | $18-22 | Tickets here
This interview was conducted by SPACE intern Scarlett Downes and has been edited for clarity and length.
SPACE: Can you explain the title a bit?
Joanna Clarke: It’s called The Last Class: A Jazzercise Play. Kelsea, the leading character, has taught a class at this local community center for a few years. Her class is being replaced with a Zumba class. She is coming to grips with the fact that she is losing this class, and when she walks in, there’s only two people taking it. Even if we have a sea of people, which I really hope we do, we will be acting as if that room is empty.
The other thing that me and Megan Hill, the playwright, really want to make sure people understood is just how much of an undertaking it is for these two women to do this class. She wants to see them sweating at the end.
I think it’s going to be really cool. It is such a fun, fast-paced hour. I’ve been an actor for a really long time and this is my first full directing piece. I’ve only been assistant director, so it’s really exciting to have this challenge of a piece where you exercise for an hour and get a really poignant point across.
SPACE: Would you say it’s a comedy? How would you characterize it?
Sarah Kennedy: I would say comedy with the essence of drama. It’s not a ‘haha’ farce kind of comedy, but it’s definitely a comedy that can talk about hard topics.
SPACE: Topic wise, what are the themes that it deals with?
Joanna Clarke: I think it’s a lot about what happens when something that’s always been there is suddenly not.
Sarah Kennedy: It’s ambition. It’s about having legacy, and then when that goes away, what does that mean for your purpose?
Joanna Clarke: Or sunk cost. When you spend so much time on something and it doesn’t come out the way you thought it would, and you’re left with what you have. It’s also about friendship. With these two women — it’s funny, because you might think that it’s going to be a pair that are besties, but there’s definitely a power dynamic.
SPACE: What drew you to this play? Do you have any connection or history with jazz or another movement-based practice?
Clarke: [Sarah] Kennedy’s the artistic director, so she is our main decider of our plays. We both love dance. Our leading actress, Kathryn Kellogg, came to us with the pitch. It’s a newer work, written by someone from New York, Megan Hill. She is fabulous.
Sarah Kennedy: We gravitate toward immersive pieces. Anything that feels like a small cast and could be done in any place that we could possibly pop up into. It fit really well into what Out There looks to do.
Joanna Clarke: Newer works in cool spaces.
SPACE: What did the rehearsal process for this play look like? Did the actresses train to prepare? Are their backgrounds in dance?
Joanna Clarke: The preparation for this was choosing women that were not only comfortable performing, but that could do an entire hour-long Jazzercise class fully, teach it and also perform. I’m really lucky that Kathryn and Grace [MacNeill], my two actresses, are both very strong fitness girlies on top of being actors. So their prep is just doing what they usually do, which is taking a lot of dance classes.
SPACE: Is there set choreography for this play that you are reviving from the original version, or is it flexible and going to be reworked?
Joanna Clarke: There’s flexibility. Kathryn is our choreographer. She has a playlist of songs that I got from the playwright and tweaked a little bit. She’s been working the past couple months on the choreo while we’ve been doing pre-production stuff leading up to rehearsals.
SPACE: Jazzercise was really popular during the ’70s and ’80s, but I’ve never seen a Jazzercise class advertised around me since it’s become less common. Did you have to do any archival research to learn more about Jazzercise before taking this project on? How are you preparing?
Joanna Clarke: Not only has Kathryn been preparing with the actual choreography, but she’s been studying up on what other Jazzercise choreographers have done. It’s a delicate balance of not stealing other people’s work while also trying to stay true to the art form. And there’s a really fun book. It’s Jane Fonda’s Jazzercise book.
Sarah Kennedy: And a lot of old ’80s VHS tapes. Kathryn’s been diving deep into the culture.
Joanna Clarke: This isn’t us parodying it. We’re not making fun of this culture. We actually think it’s really rad. And I think now in 2026 — not to be cliché, but with AI and everything — I feel like a lot of art forms are being forgotten about or left behind. This piece is a really good way of showing that these things matter still.
SPACE: Totally. I’m curious about the structure of the play. It’s a real class being taught, but also, it’s scripted and obviously rehearsed. Can you talk more about what it will look like?
Joanna Clarke: There is an element to it discovered in rehearsal process. Essentially the playwright told us that when crafting this playlist in this class, things were coming down to syllables, coming down to when breath was happening. Parts when they were sweatier. It’s gonna be a little bit more dependent on the choreo at a certain point as opposed to the typical blocking that would usually happen in a play.
Sarah Kennedy: In the original production, they would have two people take the class as well. Usually two audience members would sign up to do it. In this case, we’re having community members that we know take the class along with the two actors. For the whole hour, these two actors are doing the whole exercise class while the play is intertwined, and then those community members are following suit.
Joanna Clarke: They’re not at that level of participation, but they are the teacher’s last class students. They get to live it fully with her and she’ll have all the lines and the blocking and the choreo. I do think there’s going to be a realm of flexibility that’s going to come in with each performance.
SPACE: As far as costuming, is it going to be an ’80s vibe, with the leotard and leggings and the whole nine yards, or a more modern version?
Joanna Clarke: We’re gonna honor the ’80s part of it, but not necessarily that full look. There are elements to Kelsea, our leading lady, that honor the fashion and the look because in the show, her character grew up doing Jazzercise with her grandmother. But I also want to show that it is these two girls, right now, doing it as well.
Sarah Kennedy: It’s not so much a period piece.
SPACE: What do you hope audiences will take away from this play?
Clarke: I would say honoring that art form, but also knowing that you can love something without the validation of others needing to love it too. I think that we can all take that moment to find joy in something, not need the external parts, and stay present with it.
The other thing is that this class is ending, so it’s [about] taking that moment, taking that breath to appreciate what you love and what you’re doing. It doesn’t last forever.
SPACE: Is there anything additional that you think audiences should know about this play?
Joanna Clarke: It’s very important that people know that when they go, they are not participating. There’s that level of security in [audiences] knowing I will not have to do this class and I can sit and I can enjoy this.
I think now more than ever, it’s really important to support local live theater. I know that it’s hard because this economy is crazy, but I also know that the tickets are really affordable here at SPACE. I’m really excited to be collaborating with them. It’s gonna be a really great time.
SPACE: Is your vision for the people taking the class and teaching it to feel and look effortless and easy breezy, or are you encouraging them to lean into the feeling of exhaustion?
Joanna Clarke: That’s a really awesome question because me and Megan just talked about it, and she was explaining how you’ve got to find the balance. It is a feat to do it and we want to be true to the fact that it’s hard, but also want to show that they’ve been doing it for a while.
The material is tight, and I know that the dancing is going to be tight. We’re going to have to really be meticulous, and I’m going to try my hardest to be there for the emotional beats, because there’s some really juicy parts in the script. There’s a couple times where — I mean, I’m a sensitive person — but I get a little misty and wasn’t expecting for that to hit me there.
SPACE: In three words, how would you describe The Last Class to people who are interested in seeing it?
Joanna Clarke: Oh, gosh, these are always the ones that get me the most.
Sarah Kennedy: Sweaty.
Joanna Clarke: Yes, sweaty… Chaotic!
Sarah Kennedy: Purpose.
Joanna Clarke: Purpose — oh that’s a good one! I would also put friendship in there.
The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play enjoys its Maine premiere at SPACE from August 21-30. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm and Sundays at 1 pm. Tickets are $18 advance and $22 day of show, with a $2 discount for SPACE members. More info and tickets at SPACE538.ORG
