There are 14 performers in the cast, which makes it HUGE by Fringe Festival standards. One takes place when Persephone first comes to the underworld, and the other takes place on Olympus. For the Fringe Festival, we're just going to do the last two scenes of Act One, which will total about 45 minutes. Persephone sees that they shouldn't be there, and wonders what to do about it.įOR THE FRINGE The full opera will be two and a half hours, including intermission. I was trying to come up with an example of two people who are in the underworld and who are being punished even though they didn't do anything wrong. For instance, I created the characters of two gay ghosts who weren't in the original myth. That allows me to portray her as a heroine in a silent movie or melodrama. I composed an opera that updates the myth of Persephone to the early 20th century. I thought, 'What if someone did such a thing? What would the story be about?' A couple of days later, I woke up from another dream, and I had the story line. IN HER OWN WORDS I know this sounds kind of hokey, but I woke up from a dream one morning, in which I saw myself auditioning for a new, original musical where I would be tied up on stage for half of the show. Or go here to order your own copy of Persephone. To learn more about Kaitlin Bevis, click here. But they are full of powerful women with different flaws and strengths, leaning on each other as they navigate the horrors of a pantheon steeped in patriarchy. I am not the only author envisioning these myths for a modern audience, nor are my versions perfect. I took liberties transitioning the myths to modern day, but I remained true to the spirit of the original myths. The other gods and goddesses make appearances all throughout the series in their full complexity. I take Persephone from the innocent maiden picking flowers all the way to her rise as one of the most feared goddesses in the Pantheon. So, I wrote the Daughters of Zeus series, starting with Persephone’s myth. I figured it’s about time the stories of these amazing, powerful, flawed, and complex mythological figures got told right. If mentioned, it’s never their sole defining trait. While Zeus and Poseidon somehow get left off the hook for their ridiculous levels of promiscuity. Persephone is a victim, not a queen, Hera is a jealous lunatic, not the God-Queen, Aphrodite is painted as a whore. In popular culture, Athena isn’t known as the war goddess she was, but the goddess of wisdom, known for popping up and giving heroes advice. Though the women in Greek mythology were powerful and complex, they were often reduced to a single, definable (often passive) trait. Greek mythology is a very good microcosm for the way women are treated in history. Like Persephone’s story ends when she emerges from hell for a portion of each year, reunited with her mother, Helen’s story often ends with her ability to communicate unlocked. If you walk up to a random person off the street, they can likely tell you she was blind and deaf, they can probably tell you her first sign, and the name of her teacher, but what they aren’t likely to know are the legion of accomplishments to her name. It’s a common problem for women in history, mythological and otherwise. She was feared, revered, and had entire cults dedicated to worshiping her name. How it was widely acknowledged throughout Greece that Hades was a bit of a pushover, but do not mess with his wife. Very few versions of the myth go into her role in the Underworld afterward. Is it any wonder there are so many retellings trying to fix that problem? It’s a story that demands to be told.Īnd for too many years it was told wrong. Her lack of her voice, her thoughts, and fears, and feelings, plucks at our subconscious, insisting there is more to the story. Every person in the story gets a voice except Persephone. The myth goes into Hades’s motivations, his negotiations with Zeus, Demeter’s panic, Ascalaphus’s trickery to get Persephone to eat the pomegranate seeds, random nymph bystanders, and villagers seen along Demeter’s quest. But through the entire transition, she never gets to tell her own story. She goes from a nameless maiden (Kore) picking flowers in a meadow, to Hades’s queen (Persephone), to the terrifying ruler of the Underworld (The Iron Queen). Persephone is a fascinating figure in mythology. I can think of no other myth with more retellings, ranging from Disney classics like Beauty and the Beast, to classic literature-turned-Broadway shows like Phantom of the Opera, to dozens of contemporary retellings like my novel, Persephone. The Persephone myth has resonated with women generation after generation.
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