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| Olivia Billings, Allison Kelly, and Adam Boggs McDonald, with Jordan Kaplan in background. Photo by Al Foote III. |
My grade: A-. A bit confused on its thesis, but an affecting night.
Plot and Background
Hunger and Thirst Theatre present a new musical by Emily Kitchens, Ben Quinn, and Titus Tompkins, a collection of myths of female monsters (Mother Nyx, Echidna, Sirens, the Graeae, Sphinx, and Medusa), interspersed with bluegrass music. Hunger and Thirst, whose past productions reviewed here include Your Invisible Corset, Strangers in the Night, and Discus, is a company dedicated to communal storytelling and retellings of old stories with new lenses.Note: the show is prefaced by a detailed content warning, and as I will be discussing its contents, I'm going to include that same warning here: "physical violence, gun violence, bondage, sexual violence (including threats of rape and incest), derogatory language, and the word 'master.'"
Play: I loved so much of it. The rich aural landscape of the show is gorgeous: the cast provides sound effects with voice, with instruments, with props (the whispering story of Mother Nyx, especially the final hiss from stage left, is one that's sticking to my ribs). The show bills itself as a musical. I'd say it's more a play with music, as the songs are more interstitial than plot beats: breaths to carry us from tale to tale. The individual stories, each their own unique beast (if you will), show again and again the tragedy these monstress women actually face: if they are monsters, it is men who made them so. It is men who told the stories. If these women are violent, if they lash out, it is in self-defense against those who come to destroy them. And, tragically, that keeps happening: Echinda is imprisoned by her lover-brother so that he can continue to take his pleasure in her and force her to birth monsters; the Sphinx is executed by a man arrogantly outraged at the supposed damage she causes from her isolated home; Medusa, beheaded but still alive, is toted around by Perry for his own amusement and abuse of power, and she is denied her final rest. Again and again and again, the women lose. We lose. In the wake of the repeal of Roe v. Wade, I can't help but connect to that despair, over and over, feel the ache of it with each new loss. (the one exception is The Sirens and Catch, a tale which ends with at least the possibility of hope; but perhaps playwright Kitchens felt her hands tied by the canon of monster and vanquisher for the rest) What's strange then is the show's final song, "Look Up," which encourages us to embrace what is monstrous in us, to own that power. To not let ourselves be victims. And while that's a powerful message (and a catchy, beautiful melody), it's a left turn from everything that precedes it, everything which says it doesn't matter how we fight, they'll still win. I also find myself incredibly frustrated and a little hurt that a show that wants us to "be ugly/Be so unusual and grotesque/They have to pay heed" is cast entirely with thin, beautiful, able-bodied actors. If there was any show crying for body diversity, it was this one.
What I Knew Beforehand
I knew pieces of some of the myths explored here (chiefly the Sirens, the Sphynx, and Medusa), and I knew from my previous visits to H&T productions that even when the evening isn't perfect, there's always something deeply compelling and emotional at the heart, and that I like the lenses they bring to their stories.Thoughts:
Play: I loved so much of it. The rich aural landscape of the show is gorgeous: the cast provides sound effects with voice, with instruments, with props (the whispering story of Mother Nyx, especially the final hiss from stage left, is one that's sticking to my ribs). The show bills itself as a musical. I'd say it's more a play with music, as the songs are more interstitial than plot beats: breaths to carry us from tale to tale. The individual stories, each their own unique beast (if you will), show again and again the tragedy these monstress women actually face: if they are monsters, it is men who made them so. It is men who told the stories. If these women are violent, if they lash out, it is in self-defense against those who come to destroy them. And, tragically, that keeps happening: Echinda is imprisoned by her lover-brother so that he can continue to take his pleasure in her and force her to birth monsters; the Sphinx is executed by a man arrogantly outraged at the supposed damage she causes from her isolated home; Medusa, beheaded but still alive, is toted around by Perry for his own amusement and abuse of power, and she is denied her final rest. Again and again and again, the women lose. We lose. In the wake of the repeal of Roe v. Wade, I can't help but connect to that despair, over and over, feel the ache of it with each new loss. (the one exception is The Sirens and Catch, a tale which ends with at least the possibility of hope; but perhaps playwright Kitchens felt her hands tied by the canon of monster and vanquisher for the rest) What's strange then is the show's final song, "Look Up," which encourages us to embrace what is monstrous in us, to own that power. To not let ourselves be victims. And while that's a powerful message (and a catchy, beautiful melody), it's a left turn from everything that precedes it, everything which says it doesn't matter how we fight, they'll still win. I also find myself incredibly frustrated and a little hurt that a show that wants us to "be ugly/Be so unusual and grotesque/They have to pay heed" is cast entirely with thin, beautiful, able-bodied actors. If there was any show crying for body diversity, it was this one.
Anyone who reads my reviews knows I have a soft spot for collaborative storytelling. This production definitely utilizes that trope with its "Cump'ny" of folx, all welcoming us to the space, all playing instruments, all helping scenic transitions, singing and dancing through the interstitial songs, and creating an environment where these mythic creatures can be resurrected for another attempt to break out of their stories. I think it could be even stronger with a surer integration of these elements. I would love for the interstitial songs to exist, not in isolation, but activated as part of each transition (I cannot tell you how much I craved for the singer of "Now, Then, and To-Come Tree" (Rheanna Atendido) to free Echinda from her chains as she sings "How do I let you know about eternity," to continue to sing "Take heed and take comfort in the place that you are from" as she helps build the rocky island for the Sirens, as she herself dons her Siren robes to join that scene). The material in this play is so strong, but a bit of momentum is lost in the blue light of a scenic transition. Let the forming and re-forming of the world be part of the telling and re-telling of the stories. Activate it all. We're here for it.
Cast: Truly a fantastic Cump'ny of performers with a wonderful showcase for their varied talents (I had no idea H&T company member Philip Estrera was so adept on the fiddle or that his fellow H&T-er Jordan Kaplan could play so many instruments!). Titus Tompkins, part of the Cump'ny, but also music director and co-composer of the score, could well rival Mary Poppins's Bert for the number of instruments he can play, and he leads the cast well in their songs, along with Natalie Hegg, who lends her powerful presence to Mother Nyx and Phix. My favorite scene is definitely Catch and the Sirens, with Allison Kelly's alluring and watchful presence, Adam Boggs McDonald's serene joy, and Rheanna Atendido's sweet pixie energy (Atendido is also the Cump'ny's strongest singer, and it is a joy to hear her clear voice carry through the score).
Design: Scenic designer Jiaying Zhang has turned the New Ohio Theatre on on its side, giving the audience a beautifully wide expanse to view, with deep broad steps leading up on the right (the raked space where the audience typically sits). I should warn any fellow short folk to aim for the front row because of this, but otherwise, I'm a fan of this configuration. Within this space Zhang builds numerous worlds, and the possibilities of worlds: a clothes line spanning the space that can float in painted laundry (to represent a traveling landscape), the roof of a mine, or a river; a pulsing blue-lit womb from which Mother Nyx birthed existence; chairs and stairs and stepladders. Lighting this space--sometimes a void, sometimes a full and teeming world--Yang Yu creates glowing magic and heartbreak. And then against it all, inside it all, Sera Bourgeau's tapestry of costumes: sepia toned flannels and corduroy as a base for these storytellers who live now, who lived then, who live always. Overlaying these are the more fantastical elements to nod at the monstresses we see: a snakeskin-patterned negligee for Jianzi Colón-Soto's Echidna, a hoopskirt of severed faces for Phix's trophies; webbed fingers and a shimmering aqua sheer fabric for the robes of the Sirens. And notably, each female actor (and Olivia Billings, who is nonbinary) wears at least one piece of lace or negligee or silky camisole--something delicate, feminine, fragile. Something sexualized, more often than not.
Running: Now playing at New Ohio Theatre (Hunger and Thirst Theatre) - Opening: October 21, 2022. Closing: November 5, 2022.
Category: musical
Length: 1 hour, 40 minutes, no intermission.
Book & Lyrics: Emily Kitchens
Music: Ben Quinn and Titus Tompkins
Director: Hondo Weiss-Richmond
Designers: Olivia Palacios (Choreography), Titus Tompkins (Music Direction), Jiaying Zhang (Scenic), Sera Bourgeau (Costume), Yang Yu (Lighting), Rudi Utter (Technical Direction), Heather Olmstead (Production Stage Manager), Alison Goldman (Assistant Stage Manager), Olivia Billings (Dance Captain), Natalie Hegg (Dialect Coach).
Cast: Rheanna Atendido, Olivia Billings, Jianzi Colón-Soto, Philip Estrera, Natalie Hegg, Jordan Kaplan, Allison Kelly, Adam Boggs McDonald, Titus Tompkins.
Cast: Truly a fantastic Cump'ny of performers with a wonderful showcase for their varied talents (I had no idea H&T company member Philip Estrera was so adept on the fiddle or that his fellow H&T-er Jordan Kaplan could play so many instruments!). Titus Tompkins, part of the Cump'ny, but also music director and co-composer of the score, could well rival Mary Poppins's Bert for the number of instruments he can play, and he leads the cast well in their songs, along with Natalie Hegg, who lends her powerful presence to Mother Nyx and Phix. My favorite scene is definitely Catch and the Sirens, with Allison Kelly's alluring and watchful presence, Adam Boggs McDonald's serene joy, and Rheanna Atendido's sweet pixie energy (Atendido is also the Cump'ny's strongest singer, and it is a joy to hear her clear voice carry through the score).
Design: Scenic designer Jiaying Zhang has turned the New Ohio Theatre on on its side, giving the audience a beautifully wide expanse to view, with deep broad steps leading up on the right (the raked space where the audience typically sits). I should warn any fellow short folk to aim for the front row because of this, but otherwise, I'm a fan of this configuration. Within this space Zhang builds numerous worlds, and the possibilities of worlds: a clothes line spanning the space that can float in painted laundry (to represent a traveling landscape), the roof of a mine, or a river; a pulsing blue-lit womb from which Mother Nyx birthed existence; chairs and stairs and stepladders. Lighting this space--sometimes a void, sometimes a full and teeming world--Yang Yu creates glowing magic and heartbreak. And then against it all, inside it all, Sera Bourgeau's tapestry of costumes: sepia toned flannels and corduroy as a base for these storytellers who live now, who lived then, who live always. Overlaying these are the more fantastical elements to nod at the monstresses we see: a snakeskin-patterned negligee for Jianzi Colón-Soto's Echidna, a hoopskirt of severed faces for Phix's trophies; webbed fingers and a shimmering aqua sheer fabric for the robes of the Sirens. And notably, each female actor (and Olivia Billings, who is nonbinary) wears at least one piece of lace or negligee or silky camisole--something delicate, feminine, fragile. Something sexualized, more often than not.
***
Running: Now playing at New Ohio Theatre (Hunger and Thirst Theatre) - Opening: October 21, 2022. Closing: November 5, 2022.
Category: musical
Length: 1 hour, 40 minutes, no intermission.
Creative Team
Book & Lyrics: Emily Kitchens
Music: Ben Quinn and Titus Tompkins
Director: Hondo Weiss-Richmond
Designers: Olivia Palacios (Choreography), Titus Tompkins (Music Direction), Jiaying Zhang (Scenic), Sera Bourgeau (Costume), Yang Yu (Lighting), Rudi Utter (Technical Direction), Heather Olmstead (Production Stage Manager), Alison Goldman (Assistant Stage Manager), Olivia Billings (Dance Captain), Natalie Hegg (Dialect Coach).
Cast: Rheanna Atendido, Olivia Billings, Jianzi Colón-Soto, Philip Estrera, Natalie Hegg, Jordan Kaplan, Allison Kelly, Adam Boggs McDonald, Titus Tompkins.
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| Philip Estrera as Catch with Allison Kelly, Adam Boggs McDonald, and Rheanna Atendido as the Sirens. Photo by Al Foote III. |
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