Medusa Reclaimed is a multimedia play written by 3rian King featuring aerial theater, shadow puppetry, and live music. The story looks behind the mirror of the myth and shows how mere mortals can work together to dismantle a ruling class of oppressive gods and build a future where power is shared by all.
Who was Medusa? Did history get her story wrong?
*CW: references to sexual assault
According to Ovid, Medusa was a priestess of Athena, who in a classic case of victim-blaming was transformed into the snake-haired monster as punishment for being raped by the god Poseidon in Athena’s temple. Later in the story, Medusa is beheaded by Perseus, son of Zeus. By weaponizing Medusa’s severed head, Perseus triumphantly turns a sea monster into stone to rescue the damsel Princess Andromeda. With Andromeda taken as his wife, Perseus is made king. This is a familiar age-old tale of patriarchal glory, but what if the real story was forgotten or suppressed?
In the retelling of Medusa Reclaimed, the sexual assault catalyzes a systemic change in which the hierarchical world of gods and mortals is literally turned upside down as these iconic characters navigate the complexities of power, responsibility, and choice. Instead of condemnation, Athena empowers Medusa with an important new role. Andromeda is not a prop, but an inspired and effective political leader. And rather than turned to stone by Medusa’s gaze, Perseus discovers empathy in an adventure of ecstatic magic.
The play was written by queer artist, songwriter, and public health advocate 3rian King, who was inspired by his research in the museums, caves, and archeological sites of ancient Crete along with centuries of work by writers and organizers like Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mary Parker Follett, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, adrienne maree brown, and Starhawk.
The show premiered as an animated radio play with live music in a 2019 sold-out Summer run in the Charles Hayden Planetarium at Museum of Science, Boston. In 2021, the creative team was awarded a Boston Foundation LAB grant to further develop the play for live theatre and Boston audiences, which included retreats and performance at Manship Artists Residency + Studios in Gloucester, MA in summer 2021, and a weekend of sold out performances at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge MA in June 2022 as part of the Nora's That's What She Said program. The workshop, directed by Eileen Little, featured a fantastic cast of 6 actors in multiple roles utilizing dialogue, dance, aerial theater, shadow puppetry by Norah Solorzano, and music by the band What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?.
CREATIVE TEAM:
JAMILEH JEMISON (Producer)
EILEEN LITTLE (Director)
BRIAN KING (Writer/Artistic Director)
NATHAN COHEN (Music + Sound Director)
NORAH SOLORZANO (Shadow puppetry design)
LAURA CROOK WAXDAL (Contributing Artist)
2022 WORKSHOP CAST (alphabetical):
KATELYN BEAUDOIN (Athena)
LINDSAY EAGLE (Narrator, Zeus, High Priestess)
JULIA HERTZBERG (Thera, Aphrodite)
ALEX LEONDEDIS (Perseus, Phineus)
DANIEL LUTZ (Poseidon)
ISABEL VAN NATTA (Medusa, Andromeda)
PUPPETEERS:
LIBBY SCHAP
LISA KATE JOYCE
CREW:
TY RUWE (Stage Manager)
BEN BROTMAN (Lighting Design)
MUSIC by WHAT TIME IS IT, MR. FOX?
RENEE DUPUIS: voice, piano
BRIAN KING: voice, piano, guitar
NATHAN COHEN: violin, viola, cello
JOE CARDOZA: bass
DENNIS MONAGLE: drums
WARREN BABSON: recording engineer
Medusa logo courtesy of ADW, Athens, Greece
photos by Jonathan Beckley jonathanbeckley.com
BTS photo below courtesy of Anna Rae
Who was Medusa? Did history get her story wrong?
*CW: references to sexual assault
According to Ovid, Medusa was a priestess of Athena, who in a classic case of victim-blaming was transformed into the snake-haired monster as punishment for being raped by the god Poseidon in Athena’s temple. Later in the story, Medusa is beheaded by Perseus, son of Zeus. By weaponizing Medusa’s severed head, Perseus triumphantly turns a sea monster into stone to rescue the damsel Princess Andromeda. With Andromeda taken as his wife, Perseus is made king. This is a familiar age-old tale of patriarchal glory, but what if the real story was forgotten or suppressed?
In the retelling of Medusa Reclaimed, the sexual assault catalyzes a systemic change in which the hierarchical world of gods and mortals is literally turned upside down as these iconic characters navigate the complexities of power, responsibility, and choice. Instead of condemnation, Athena empowers Medusa with an important new role. Andromeda is not a prop, but an inspired and effective political leader. And rather than turned to stone by Medusa’s gaze, Perseus discovers empathy in an adventure of ecstatic magic.
The play was written by queer artist, songwriter, and public health advocate 3rian King, who was inspired by his research in the museums, caves, and archeological sites of ancient Crete along with centuries of work by writers and organizers like Matilda Joslyn Gage, Mary Parker Follett, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, adrienne maree brown, and Starhawk.
The show premiered as an animated radio play with live music in a 2019 sold-out Summer run in the Charles Hayden Planetarium at Museum of Science, Boston. In 2021, the creative team was awarded a Boston Foundation LAB grant to further develop the play for live theatre and Boston audiences, which included retreats and performance at Manship Artists Residency + Studios in Gloucester, MA in summer 2021, and a weekend of sold out performances at the Central Square Theater in Cambridge MA in June 2022 as part of the Nora's That's What She Said program. The workshop, directed by Eileen Little, featured a fantastic cast of 6 actors in multiple roles utilizing dialogue, dance, aerial theater, shadow puppetry by Norah Solorzano, and music by the band What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?.
CREATIVE TEAM:
JAMILEH JEMISON (Producer)
EILEEN LITTLE (Director)
BRIAN KING (Writer/Artistic Director)
NATHAN COHEN (Music + Sound Director)
NORAH SOLORZANO (Shadow puppetry design)
LAURA CROOK WAXDAL (Contributing Artist)
2022 WORKSHOP CAST (alphabetical):
KATELYN BEAUDOIN (Athena)
LINDSAY EAGLE (Narrator, Zeus, High Priestess)
JULIA HERTZBERG (Thera, Aphrodite)
ALEX LEONDEDIS (Perseus, Phineus)
DANIEL LUTZ (Poseidon)
ISABEL VAN NATTA (Medusa, Andromeda)
PUPPETEERS:
LIBBY SCHAP
LISA KATE JOYCE
CREW:
TY RUWE (Stage Manager)
BEN BROTMAN (Lighting Design)
MUSIC by WHAT TIME IS IT, MR. FOX?
RENEE DUPUIS: voice, piano
BRIAN KING: voice, piano, guitar
NATHAN COHEN: violin, viola, cello
JOE CARDOZA: bass
DENNIS MONAGLE: drums
WARREN BABSON: recording engineer
Medusa logo courtesy of ADW, Athens, Greece
photos by Jonathan Beckley jonathanbeckley.com
BTS photo below courtesy of Anna Rae
From April to August 2021, the Medusa Reclaimed Team completed 3 residencies at Manship Artists Residency + Studios (MARS) in Lanesville, MA. During the time we hosted more than 20 cast & crew to explore and develop various aspects of the production including script work, table reads, aerial dance, shadow puppetry, and animation culminating in a special "proof of concept" performance on the property.
In July 2021 we were awarded a Live Arts Boston (LAB) grant from the Boston Foundation to further develop the production for a Greater Boston performance by summer 2022.
In January 2020 we completed a sold-out run of Medusa's first iteration as an animated radio play with live music at the Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science, Boston to rave reviews and ecstatic audiences. Rosalind Bevan of WBUR wrote, "This performance reclaims the myth of Medusa after #MeToo. I felt like I was floating. As I gazed up from my reclined chair, I realized I had never seen a show or movie from this angle. The literal shift in vantage point helps liberate us from the confines of what we've always been told." We are currently adapting the play into a fully staged live action production.
