'YokastaS Redux' at La MaMa's

Thu 27 Jan 2005 'YokastaS Redux' at La MaMa's YokastaS Redux is the completion of Richard Schechner's Yokasta project, to be presented by La MaMa in its Annex Theater 17 - 27 Feb 2005. It is a completely different version of a play which had a preliminary production in March-April, 2003, presented by La MaMa in its First Floor Theater. Performed by East Coast Artists, it is co-authored by Richard Schechner and Romanian playwright Saviana Stanescu and is directed by Schechner. Richard Schechner, who deconstructed another Greek myth with 'Dionysus in 69,' explains that he has always been intrigued by the myth of Yokasta because she is such an important figure in the Greek tragedy -- but she is under-represented onstage. Schechner describes Yokasta as one of the "incomplete" figures of Greek myth, with no play of her own in the classical Greek canon. (However, she figures prominently in Stravinsky's opera, 'Oedipus,' and in a 16th century play by George Gascoigne.) Schechner asked, What if Yokasta never committed suicide? This and other "what if's" led him to the notion of filling in her life by portraying her in several stages of it. With this as the starting point, Schechner invited the collaboration of Romanian playwright Saviana Stanescu and the actors of East Coast Artists. They began writing and workshopping in 2003. YokastaS Redux moves through time, portraying Yokasta, mother of Oedipus, at four different ages, played by four different actresses. Yokasta is presented as an optimistic teen, an angry young woman, a happily married woman, and an older woman who makes rounds of talk shows telling the hosts about her famous life and complaining that nobody has written a play about her. The effect is a multi-faceted play contrasting tragedy, irony, sexuality, murder, and intellect. YokastaS Redux juxtaposes the innocence of girlhood with the brutality of women's fate in history. "Each Yokasta has her own experience," says Schechner, "like Rashomon." Breaking Yokasta into four characters enabled Schechner and Stanescu to present aspects of the Yokasta myth as they imagine it might have evolved over time. In YokastaS Redux. we see Yokasta as if through a prism, broken out into her various components. Yoyo, age 14, represents the hope of the future. She insists she will not live the life that is fated for her. Yoko, ages from 18 to 30, enacts the night when she had to surrender Oedipus after birthing him. Angry at Laius, she takes her revenge in many different ways, including murdering all their male children. Yono, a woman in her late thirties, never looks back. She is the perfect wife to Oedipus. She loves him, has four kids with him, and helps train him to be the perfect king. Finally, there is Yokasta, around 55, who has seen it all and makes the rounds of talk shows. She is cynical, fun and wise. Often these Yokastas are on stage together - helping each other act out key scenes from their lives. The characters are contemporary, as is most of the language. One actor plays all the male roles: Laius, Oedipus, and TV talk show hosts. The tone of the production swings from the emotional and tragic to the ironic - with lots of references to pop culture. One scene depicts a talk show where the Yokastas argue who is "tragedy's baddest mama." They quote from Euripides' "Phaedra" and "Medea," Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex," and Seneca's "Oedipus." Emphasizing the intrusiveness of our electronic age, the outside world is not fenced out of this show, but deliberately allowed to interrupt it. The show will begin with a statement by the stage manager that tells the audience and the actors to leave their cell phones on. The play will actually stop if anybody's cellphone rings. The performers are: Daphne Gaines (Yokasta), Rachel Bowditch (Yono), Phyllis Johnson (Yoko), Jennifer Lim (Yoyo), and Sarah Kozinn (Understudy - a Yokasta in the making). Christopher Logan Healy (Laius, Oedipus, and The Media). The play has been completely rewritten and workshopped a number of times since its 2003 La MaMa production. Only Rachel Bowditch and Christopher Logan Healey remain from the '03 cast. The production includes a slide show by Ryan Jensen depicting the first night when Oedipus arrives in Thebes and is given a "royal bath" by Yokasta. Soundscapes are by Allan Willmer. Costumes are by Oana Botez-Ban. Lighting design is by Lucrecia Briceno. Photography is by Ryan Jensen. Set design is by Schechner. Benjamin Mosse is the assistant director.