Frances McDormand, Bill Murray and More Join Theater of War Productions for THE OEDIPUS PROJECT

Theater of War Productions is slated to launch its new Digital Amphitheater with a presentation of The Oedipus Project on Tuesday, April 27 as part of the first-ever Nobel Prize Summit: Our Planet, Our Future, a virtual event that will bring together Nobel Laureates and other leading scientists with thought leaders, policy makers, business leaders and young people to explore solutions to the challenges facing our global civilization and discuss the state of the planet at a critical juncture for humanity.

This free, public performance of The Oedipus Project will feature the actors Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright, David Strathairn, Frankie Faison, Marjolaine Goldsmith, and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and others. Notably, the play's Chorus will be performed by Nobel Prize-winning scientists, including Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn. To register for this free, Zoom event please got to nobeloedipus.eventbrite.com.

The Oedipus Project presents dramatic readings of scenes from Sophocles' Oedipus the King as catalyst for global discussions about climate change, ecological disaster, and environmental justice, framed by the play's timeless themes of arrogant leadership, intergenerational curses, willful blindness, and ignored prophecy. At the time the play was first performed, in 429 BC, the audience would have been recovering from a plague that killed nearly one-third of the Athenian population. Seen through this lens, the play might be as relevant now as it was in its own time.

"When the pandemic hit, we immediately retooled to create free, easily-accessible opportunities on Zoom for people struggling with trauma, loss, illness, and distress to communalize their experiences with others," stated Bryan Doerries, Artistic Director of Theater of War Productions. "Along with the unprecedented loneliness, suffering, and division caused by Covid-19 came the need for innovative, adaptive approaches to fostering dialogue and healing. The goal of our work has always been to lift people out of isolation and to connect them with a larger community. And now, with the generous support of The Mellon Foundation, we are excited to build upon what we have learned during the pandemic to reach exponentially larger audiences all over the world, just when the world needs it most."

Theater of War Productions will create a new hybrid physical/digital model of performance and discussion, with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has just awarded the acclaimed social impact company a $1 million grant.

The Digital Amphitheater will harness the power of ancient and emerging technologies to reach hundreds of thousands of people, in live settings (when public performances are permitted again), on their devices, and in their homes, bringing them into powerful, global, pluralistic dialogue about some of the most critical issues of our time.