2023
Written by American Karen Malpede Troy Too is a short, innovative, political and poetic play, inspired by Euripides’ The Trojan Women. Tackling the modern-day crises of Covid, Climate and Racism, the play hadn’t been written originally to be staged. However, it is currently being workshoped for internet streaming as a collaboration between the two theater companies known for their experimental and social justice work, namely, Malpede’s Theater Three Collaborative, based in New York, and Persona Theater Company based in Athens. The production will be an animated youtube version with actors’ voices and drawings by Biba Kayewich.
The play, which was commissioned for the edited collection Staging 21st Century Tragedies. Theatre, Politics and Global Crisis (Routledge 2022) reimagines Trojan Women, Euripides’ war tragedy of displacement, by creating a context where our century’s recent calamities are being dictated and supervised by mythical figures that have landed on our wounded earth to teach as a lesson. Two goddesses (Plague and Profit) set the plot in action: A modern-day ageing Hecuba becomes witness to a series of events that seem to mark the end of an era; a fish speaks of the plastic war; the Black Lives Matter movement and the deeply divided American nation unfold in front of our eyes; the medical workers in Intensive Care Units remind us of the immense toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Team
Playwright: Karen Malpede
Director: Avra Sidiropoulou
Set Consultant-Lighting Design: Tony Giovannetti
Costume Designer: Sally Ann Parsons
Composer: Vanias Apergis
Director of Photography- Video art: Michael Demetrius
Assistant Director: Elena Vannoni
Assistant Lighting Designer: Miriam Crowe
Assistant Costume Designer: Carissa Kelly
Production Team (Athens): Maria Hadjistylli, Tzoulia Kogkou, Katia Makrykosta
Production Manager: Jee Duman
Performers: Lydia Koniordou, Ilia Pappa (on film), Anthi Savvaki (on film), George Bartenieff (audio), Shona Tucker, Tommie J. Moore, Abigail Ramsay, Najla Said, David Glover, Ilker Oztop, Di Zhu, Chorus
Troy Too is made possible with the support of the J. F. Costopoulos Foundation, Nina Kamberos, and Aspa & Andreas Andreades.
Click here for tickets and information: HERE Arts Center
Click here to donate to our crowd-funding campaign: Gofundme
