Magis Theatre Company to Present Thornton Wilder's THE ALCESTIAD This Summer

The Magis Theatre Company will present Thornton Wilder's rarely performed play, The Alcestiad- A play in three acts with a satyr play: The Drunken Sisters, directed by George Drance. Scheduled to begin its limited run on June 20 through June 28, 2020, at Roosevelt Island's Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park.

One of America's most lauded playwrights, Thorton Wilder's rarely performed play, The Alcestiad premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 1955, directed by Tyrone Guthrie and is inspired by Euripides Greek tragedy Alcestis. Wilder's third-act imagines a world after Alcestis returns from the land of the dead, her kingdom is overthrown by a tyrant and is ravaged by a plague. The play deals with the power of irrational fear in society at the hands of those who would seek to intimidate others brutally as well as askes questions about the meaning of human life and its' relationship to the divine.

Magis Theatre has been examining and exploring this play as a workshop in 2017, long before the current pandemic struck. The Alcestiad features an ensemble cast including Russ Cusick, Deniz Demirer, Margid Sharp Douglas, George Drance, Jack Fadner, Kimbirdlee Fadner, Sara Galassini, Jacqueline Lucid, Tony Macht, Rachel Benbow Murdy, Gabriel Portuondo, Mae Roney, Diego Tapia, and Jenna Wyman with stage manager Sheree V. Campbell and production designer Gian Marco Lo Forte. This production will be presented outdoors at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, against the backdrop of the Manhattan skyline, The United Nations, and the ruins of the Smallpox Hospital Roosevelt Island in New York City In case of rain, the production will retreat indoors (more details to come).

Thornton Wilder said of The Alcestiad, "On one level, my play recounts the life of a woman-of many women-from bewildered bride to sorely tested wife to overburdened old age. On another level, it is a wildly romantic story of gods and men, of death and hell and resurrection, of great loves and great trials, of usurpation and revenge. On another level, however, it is a comedy about a very serious matter."

"Magis Theatre seeks out neglected works of the past that still have something important to say to us in our present. "The Alcestiad" is one of those pieces and was brought to my attention by Irene Worth in 1997. In a world where individualism and greed have been driving forces in recent years, this work of Thornton Wilder celebrates the beauty of making sacrifices for the good of others and how this kind of courageous self-giving can transform society. Alcestis learning through her pain to overcome it by understanding, is a theme that is crucial for us today." Magis Theatre, director George Drance.

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