Odyssey 2016 was a one year, intensive research and production project that brought together a creative team from around the globe: Historians, classical studies scholars, professional theater practitioners, digital artists and media designers worked in collaboration with teams of student research interns in a collective effort to reimagine Homer’s epic tale as a work of ambulatory theater that would open on a (reverse-seating) proscenium thrust mainstage, travel through an interactive exhibition of large scale installation art (with Odysseus among the audience group), encounter other members of the cast along the way and “experience,” first hand, Odysseus’ journey home to Penelope, Telemachus, and the suitors who have taken “Island Hospitality” to its brazen and orgiastic limit point, up and down the hallowed halls of the now bushy and unkempt ancestral palace grounds, for the climax of the play.
Six months into the project, during the summer break, I abandoned the script I was working on for the theatrical portion of the show and began to write a short story in metered verse instead. The result was “The Mission,” which would later become the inspiration for the 2nd half of the play and serve as a bridge between the two spheres of dramatic action: Odysseus’ departure from the ancient world of the Mainstage and his return to the postmodern world of the exhibition space and blackbox theater at the Digital Arts Research Center (DARC) where Odysseus, now dressed as a homeless veteran, is harassed by Real estate developer, Antinous Baros and the New Ithaca building project’s security unit during , “Book XVIII – the Beggar King of New Ithaca.”
Under the direction of Kimberly Jannarone and an extremely talented production team, the show successfully navigated a complex series of tech rehearsals in three different locations, with final dress rehearsal taking place on Election Night 2016. By the time the cast and crew had finished washing off the blood of the suitors from the final scene and left the theater that night, like Odysseus, we all returned home to a very different world than the one we had departed.
The Mission by Stephen Richter. For printed copy click the image below:
A man returns to San Francisco after a ten year absence to find his home replaced by an exclusive condominium development. When asked to leave by security, the situation escalates. The form of the book that of a Real Estate Brochure, from the development company that built New Ithaca on top of Marine Corps Veteran, Ulises Malheur’s childhood home. Click below to read the eBook version .
Channel 850B Ithaca consisted of a 3 x 3 70′ LED Monitor Grid Video Installation, playing on a loop throughout the performance inside the New Ithaca Complex.
“The Beggar King of Ithaca” was an interactive performance component bridging the two worlds of the play together. Click image below for image Gallery:
