The Nymphs Come Out at Night

It’s hard to believe it’s coming up this soon, but THIS WEDNESDAY a short play of mine is playing in the San Francisco Olympians Festival! It’s actually the first night of the festival, and the theme of the evening is Nymphs, Nymphs, Nymphs!: eight short plays about nymphs by eight local writers. My topic is Nereids, sea nymphs, but the play’s really about Calypso and the epic face-off between her and Penelope when the long-suffering wife comes looking for her husband. It’s part of a full-length play I’ve been working on, The Weavers, all about Penelope, Circe and Calypso (played here by Teri Whipple, Fatima Zahra El-Filali, and Xanadu Bruggers, respectively).

This is my second year in the festival. Last year was my coming-out as a playwright with my full-length play Ellen’s Undone, about Helen of Troy. And it’s just been announced that I’ll be in next year’s festival as well, with a full-length play about Medea. I’m pretty excited (and terrified) to get started on that one, I’ll tell you.

But for now, come see the Nymphs! This Wednesday at 8 o’clock at the EXIT Theatre!  All the info on that is below:

Art for Nereids by Cody Rishell.

San Francisco Olympians Festival V: The Monster Ball kicks off twelve nights of dramatic readings November 5 with NYMPHS, NYMPHS, NYMPHS, an evening of short plays written by Bridgette Dutta Portman, Marissa Skudlarek, Sam Bertken, Jennifer Lynne Roberts, Siyu Song, Sam Hurwitt, Carol Lashof, and Leah Halper

Directed by Scott Baker and Valerie Fachman

Featuring Fatima Zahra El-Filali, Steffanos X, Xanadu Bruggers, Carole Swann, Nick Trengove, J Jha, Rose Marie Fox, Richard Wenzel, Colleen Egan, and Teri Whipple

NEPHELE
by Siyu Song
directed by Scott Baker
Watch Zeus take to the latest trend in online dating as he Catfishes an unsuspecting human – what happens at 6:34 of this play will ASTOUND you.

OREADS or POWER FORWARD
by Leah Halper
directed by Scott Baker
Chelone, a mountain nymph and protector of tortoises, is the only immortal to stand up to Zeus on the matter of his coerced marriage to Hera–but her defiance may be contagious in this Silicon Valley re-conception of the myth that explained why tortoises have shells.

NEREIDS or THE WEAVERS
by Sam Hurwitt
directed by Scott Baker
Odysseus is gone again, and Penelope isn’t waiting around anymore. Looking up all her husband’s old girlfriends, she finds the sea nymph Calypso spoiling for a fight.

NAIADS or DEATH OF A RIVER IN 3/4 TIME
by Jennifer Lynne Roberts
directed by Valerie Fachman
When the CEO of Archon Energy, the world’s most powerful utility company, tries to greenwash away responsibility for dumping toxins into a dying river, a Naiad tries to inspire her to reconsider, but who will pay the ultimate price?

ASTERIAE or KING SISYPHUS
by Bridgette Dutta Portman
directed by Valerie Fachman
When you’re trying to cheat death, it helps to have an immortal star-nymph as a wife. Or does it? A play in verse about the trickster Sisyphus and his wife, the Pleiad Merope.

OCEANIDS or THE DAUGHTERS OF OCEAN
by Carol Lashof
directed by Valerie Fachman
In the war to restore Paganism, Prometheus has been taken captive by the ruling Christian Theocratic party. His wife, the sea nymph Hesione, is desperate to rescue him, but to reach his side she must cross a terrifying human city crowded with air-breathers, highways, and big box stores.

DRYADS or THE DRYAD OF SUBURBIA
by Marissa Skudlarek
directed by Valerie Fachman
In a suburban neighborhood blighted by both conformity and drought, Tom and Heidi’s daughter is convinced that she’s a tree spirit. Is this an innocent childhood game or a harmful delusion?

LAMPADES or LAMP RITUAL
by Sam Bertken
directed by Scott Baker
What is your greatest fear? Darkness? Madness? Losing a loved one? The reading of Lamp Ritual profiles an experiential piece that seeks to conquer your darkest nightmares.

And that’s only the beginning!

The Olympians festival runs 12 nights, November 5-22, Wednesday through Saturday, at the EXIT Theatre in San Francisco (156 Eddy Street). Tickets are $10.00 at the door, and can be purchased starting at 7:30 the night of the show. All shows begin at 8 PM. Audience members who attend more than four nights get the fifth free!