"Jocasta: A Motherf**king Tragedy" - a timely new play conceived and directed by Brian Weir from our friends at The Ghost Road Company.
An alcoholic tattoo artist, a kid who's been swimming laps for 25 years, an ex-con, and a woman who believes she can see the future help Jocasta when she is awakened from a dream into a literal nightmare, discovering her husband Oedipus is also her son. This at once disturbing and darkly comic theatrical work, explores modern feminism, the nature of fate, and what it takes to regain control of one's own destiny.
Said director Weir, "We started creating this play long before the #metoo movement. As each misdeed comes to light, as each woman steps forward, it highlights the insight of the Greeks who wrote so adeptly about human psychology. For this play, I wanted to focus on Oedipus' wife/mother, the one character who did no wrong but paid the price ten-fold. I also wanted to shine a light on some of the other much-maligned female characters, to show how women have paid for the actions of men for time immemorial."
Brian Weir has been a member of the Ghost Road Company since 1995, developing and performing in numerous works including Asterion, The Bargain and the Butterfly, Stranger Things, the Home Seige Home trilogy, Four Dervishes, Carrots for Hare, Pantofelnik's Suitcase, A Couple of Polish Speaking Romanians and Life's A Dream. After receiving his MFA from CalArts, he performed in numerous theatres across the southland including Celebration, The Getty Villa, Inside the Ford, Collage Dance Theatre, Moving Arts, Playwrights Arena, the Odyssey, and West Coast Ensemble. A huge proponent of new work, he has directed pieces for The Blank Theatre and Theatre of NOTE as well as teaching workshops in improvisation and the ensemble devising process.
The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Christine Breihan, Adam Dlugolecki, Max Faugno, Kimberly Glann, Jen Kays, and Katharine Noon. Set design is by Francois-Pierre Couture, lighting design is by Brandon Baruch, costume design is by Vicki Conrad, sound design is by Cricket Myers, original music is by Jakob Berger, and fight direction is by Ronnie Clark. The stage manager is Manichanh Kham, and Mark Seldis produces for The Ghost Road Company.
The Ghost Road Company is one of Los Angeles' premiere theatre ensembles dedicated to the creation of new work for the stage. The company is unique in its approach, having developed its own methods of collaborative development over many years. GRC has presented its work nationally and internationally from The Getty Villa, Inside the Ford, and Atwater Village Theatre, to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, KO Festival in Amherst, and the Grotowski Laboratorium in Wroclaw, Poland. Recent works include Asterion, The Bargain and the Butterfly, and Home Siege Home (The Oresteia Trilogy). For more info, visit www.ghostroad.org.