Due to weather conditions, the performances must take place in the Vashon High School Theater.

In addition to an original script by regional playwright Bryan Willis, the opening play for Vashon Repertory Theatre’s (VRT) fifth season, “Oscar’s Journey: The Fall and Rise of the Bird King,” will feature an original score by Vashon native Kat Eggleston.

Eggleston has generously lent her talents for composing and performing music to several Vashon Rep productions, including Kissing The Joy As It Flies, a performance of author Brian Doyle’s essays adapted for the stage by Gerry and Michael Feinstein.

For “Oscar,” Eggleston has transformed Willis’ play into a virtual musical — with several original songs and a variety of underscores that underscore the play’s action throughout. And, along with local harmonica virtuoso Mark Graham, she will play the music at each of the play’s four performances on Aug. 23, 24 and 25 at the Vashon High School Theater. (The venue was moved from its original location, the Vashon Center for the Arts’ Heron’s Meadow, due to the threat of rain.)

Eggleston is a singer, guitarist, songwriter and playwright who has performed and taught internationally for more than 30 years and has created numerous solo and collaborative recordings of original and traditional music that are distributed worldwide.

She has performed at Steppenwolf Garage Space, Chicago Children’s Theater, Chicago’s Briar Street Theater in “Woody Guthrie’s American Song,” and the historic Victory Gardens Theater, and has toured concerts and festivals throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia. She lives here on Vashon with her husband and what she describes as a “sub-par” poodle.

“I am grateful to Kat for her wonderful musical collaboration on my script,” said playwright Brian Willis. “She has enriched my work more than I could have hoped for.”

“Oscar’s Journey: The Fall and Rise of the Bird King” – billed as a one-hour play for the whole family – will be performed on Friday and Saturday, August 23-24, at 6:30 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday, August 24-25, at 4:00 p.m.

Admission is free: pay what you want at the gate. Bring your own chairs, drinks, and your sense of humor and curiosity.

For more information, visit vashonrepertorytheatre.org.