THE STORY - MEDUSA RECLAIMED

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 and songwriter Brian King, who was inspired by activists and writers like Angela Davis, Starhawk, and Adrienne Maree Brown, and research in the museums, caves, and archeological sites of ancient Crete. 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?.

live photos by Jonathan Beckley jonathanbeckley.com