If you set sail with a pirate, she just might steal your heart  

 

Just before intermission, the woman seated in front of me leaned toward her companion’s ear. Her waist-length box braids swung forward like a privacy curtain. I couldn’t see the women’s faces, but the whispered exchange was clear. God, I’m so horny. And then, me, too. The room hummed with similar sentiments. Across the thrust stage, a trio of women fanned themselves and giggled. Down the row, another woman squeezed her denim-covered thighs with decorated stiletto nails and gazed intently at the couple in the spotlight.

 

In her latest show Salt Life, playwright and director Neka Cecilia Knowles spices things up on the high seas in a sapphic enemies-to-lovers story. The sensual static builds right from the start, when Natalia Bourbon, a fiercely independent woman whose murder-for-hire work necessitates a detached demeanor, climbs aboard a ship manned by a sole pirate, Jacque, to hitch a ride home. Natalia has received word that her little sister, Gemma, is in trouble and Jacque has agreed to sail in that direction (for a price, of course).

 

 

It’s reasonable that the women are wary of each other at first since — by trade — Natalia is a killer and Jacque is a thief. With nothing else to do as they sail toward Gemma’s last known location, they quip and banter. Neither plays nice. Natalia is unfazed when Jacque aims a gun at her, and slowly the two settle into the realization that they both can see through the other’s bad girl façade. 

 

Pitstops ashore complicate their plans to keep each other at arm’s length. Jacque tries to rescue Natalia from a cat call that results in gunfire, and tending to the resulting wound presents an opportunity for physical closeness, soft touch, extended eye contact and most painful of all for an ego-driven independent operator, admission of attraction. At the next stop, Natalia hears gossip about Jacque’s former lover that spins her into chaos mode. When both have come to heel, the sparks ignite in steamy power plays that had the audience feeling the heat: hooting and hollering, fanning and giggling, and whispering to their seatmates. 

 

 

Knowles’ work as an intimacy coordinator comes in handy here. Often, staged intimacy is communicated through long, passionate kisses, or two characters waking up in bed beside each other but Knowles forgoes these kinds of short cuts. The result is a more organic magnetism that draws the audience in, too. We sense the attraction between Natalia and Jacque when they lean toward each other without touching, the flicker of light in their eyes when they dare each other to undress, and in Natalia’s slow, deliberate crawl towards Jacque when they finally decide to stop playing and lock in. 

 

While the chemistry between the actors was palpable, the B-plot was hard to grasp. As Natalia sails around looking for Gemma, Jacque fields phone calls from a mysterious figure in black requesting updates on Natalia’s progress. When it works, it intentionally erodes our investment in Natalia and Jacque’s chemistry, since we’re not sure if Jacque’s flirting is part of a dangerous game. But the reveal at the end of the show felt anticlimactic. Not only did it rob us of seeing our hero save her sister, it also made me wonder if all the subterfuge was really necessary. Since the enemies to lovers storyline is already compelling, the forced proximity needs a stronger pay-off in order to compete.

 

 

Where Knowles’s Guanahani (2024) was a story of self-discovery, Salt Life explores how to re-access vulnerability when you’ve self-discovered a little too close to the sun. Jacque, played by a brooding Eden Jing Rolle, prefers to sail alone and unbothered. Natalia, played by an enchanting MisaLove Smith, has learned to be skeptical and aggressive. Watching the two come undone enough to show a softer side was a swoon-worthy voyage. The runway style curtain-call, with each cast member showing off a dancehall move (or their best attempt) and the audience wining along, brought us back to shore buzzing, blushing, and a little out of breath.              

 

blacklove 🖤 and starlight 🌟

 

Salt Life was produced by Belly Laugh Ent. at Brooklyn Art Haus in Williamsburg on June 12 and 14, 2026. The play was written and directed by Neka Cecilia Knowles and featured MisaLove Smith, Eden Jing Rolle, Johanna Broughton along with Emma Dalenberg, Pedro Cabrera, Janeil Mason, Ashley Riboul, Donique Givans and Divya Sarma in the ensemble. I attended at the invitation of the playwright and offer my thanks.