Theatre Y presents the US and English-language premiere of "Penelope, O Penelope" by Simon Abkarian, translation by Melissa Lorraine, at Theatre Y, 2649 N Francisco (entrance through side alley), tonight, April 9 - May 17, 2015. "Penelope, O Penelope," directed by Éva Patkó with dramaturgy by Zsolt Láng, begins previews April 6, press opening is April 9; show runs through May 17. For more information, visit Theatre-Y.com.
Named the best French creation of 2008, PENELOPE, O PENELOPE comes out of Homer's Odyssey, told from the modern day perspective of the hero's devoted and lonesome wife. In this new translation by artistic director Melissa Lorraine, Dinah awaits her husband's return from war after twenty years, with a vengeful suitor hungry at her door. Elias-the war-riddled, hero-turned-vagabond-searches for redemption from his bloodshed and a way home from spirits and memories alike.
Directed by critically acclaimed Romanian director Éva Patkó, with dramaturgy by famed author Zsolt Láng, PENELOPE, O PENELOPE employs shadow, dance, language and architecture to ask how long love lasts...and at what cost.
"Abkarian's play is without time or nationality," Artistic Director Melissa Lorraine explains. "Drawing from Homer's Odyssey and the war in Lebanon in the 70's which took his own father away, Abkarian is the proper vessel for a universal text - tri-lingual (Armenian/French/English), bullied by a cacophony of world events, nomadic, and literarily fearless. As one might expect, such a person does not offer answers, but rather a very lucid grip on the myriad of paradoxes that force us into what is a timeless human cycle."
"When I first read the French text, I thought: here it is, an eternal love story," comments Dramaturg Zsolt Láng. "When I first read the English translation I felt the play is more about the father-son relationship. And finally, during the actors' first read-through, when I could hear their voices, and catch their glimpses as they looked at each other, all my previous interpretations rewrote themselves: the mother-son relationship is very important, also the one between man-man, and woman-woman. They say a good cast is capable of carving out hidden, unknown stories from plays presented hundreds of times before. So, we are at the beginning of rehearsal and I am dying to find out: what will become of this? What secret can still emerge? As the French say: qui chevauchait qui? (who is astride whom?)"
"It is my distinct privilege to discover overlooked masterpieces in global contemporary theater and bring them to Chicago. In 2008, this play was an enormous theatrical event in France, unheard of until now in Chicago, and we are so thrilled to rectify that," comments Theatre Y Artistic Director Melissa Lorraine. "Theatre Y relies on international collaboration with the hope of getting ever closer to the human core - of stripping all peripheral concerns, all colloquial distractions, and communing with one another around only the most universal of fires."
The cast for PENELOPE, O PENELOPE includes Melissa Lorraine (Dinah/Sofia), Rich Holton (Elias/Theos),
Daiva Bhandari (Nuritsa), Catalina Vasile (Odessa), and Kevin V. Smith (Ante). The creative team for "Penelope, O Penelope" includes Éva Patkó (Director), and Zsolt Láng (Dramaturg).
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