Manhattan Experimental Theater Workshop

overview

Imagine the story of Icarus in the hands of Antonin Artaud, Samuel Beckett, Lee Breuer, Caryl Churchill, Jean Cocteau, David Greenspan, and Tristan Tzara. Can't do it? We did.

The 2005 MXTW company put their heads together and crafted seven original pieces for the theater under the influence of some of the 20th and 21st Century's most interesting avant garde playwrights.

A synopsis of the the story of Icarus and links to the new scripts written in the 2005 workshop here.

A brief description of the MXTW Process here.

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What you need to know about the myth of Icarus:

Like most Greek myths, the tragedy of Daedalus and Icarus appears in several sources, and the sources don't always agree on the details. Here are some of the elements of the myth you will encounter in tonight's performance.
Daedalus, the father of Icarus, worked as an inventor at the court of King Minos in Crete. In a time of need, the god Poseidon granted King Minos a great white bull from the sea. After this, Minos was supposed to sacrifice the bull in honor of Poseidon. When Minos refused to sacrifice the bull, the god Poseidon took his revenge by cursing King Minos' wife Pasiphae with a lust for the bull. Queen Pasiphae then called on the inventor Daedalus to help her satisfy her longings. Daedalus obliged the queen with a hollow wooden cow covered in hides for her to crawl inside of so that she could seduce the bull. As a result of Daedalus' invention, Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull beast who was confined under the palace in a great labyrinth which Daedalus designed.
Minos demanded that the Athenians (who he had conquered in battle) send seven virginal men and seven virginal women every nine years to be fed to the Minotaur. Later, Daedalus helped Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, give the Athenian hero Theseus a way to solve the Labyrinth and kill the Minotaur. This caused Minos to punish Daedalus and his son Icarus by imprisoning them in the labyrinth. To escape his punishment, Daedalus fashioned wings of beeswax and feathers so he and Icarus could fly out of Crete. As they flew off of the island, a shepard and a ploughman stopped in their work to comment that they must be seeing the flight of two gods. Daedalus had warned Icarus that flying too close to the sun would melt the wax holding his wings together, but in his delight at flying Icarus did not heed his father and fell to his death in the sea.
After his learning of Daedalus' escape, King Minos pursued the inventor by holding a contest to thread a piece of string through a spiral seashell, knowing only Daedalus could accomplish such a task. Indeed, Daedalus did thread the shell by attaching the string to an ant. Before Minos could have Daedalus killed, however, King Minos was boiled to death during a bath by the daughters of King Cocalus, who enjoyed the toys Daedalus made for them.
Another famous version of the Icarus myth comes from the Roman poet Ovid. He begins his telling of this myth with the story of princess Scylla who betrayed her father and homeland for the love of King Minos only to be scorned by him for her treason. When Scylla's father Nisus attacks her in the form of a falcon she is transformed into the mythical bird Ciris the Shearer. Ovid's version of the tale also tells of a partridge that comes to taunt Daedalus after the death of Icarus. The Partridge tells the story of Perdix, Daedalus' nephew who showed so much potential as his apprentice that in his jealousy Daedalus threw him off Athena's tower. Athena took pity on Perdix and turned him into a partridge, saving his life. Yet another source states that Daedalus had two sons named Iapyx and Icarus, but Iapyx's whereabouts during the tragedy of Icarus are unknown.

reader

MXTW 2005 Reader Contents

Bibliography

Madame Rachilde, “The Crystal Spider,” in Doubles, Demons, and Dreamers, Daniel Gerould, ed. (Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1985) 67-75.

Oscar Wilde, Salome, (Players Press, 1996) 7-30.

Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, “The Mute Canary,” in dada performance, Mel Gordon, ed. (PAJ publications, 1987)

Tristan Tsara, “The First Celestial Adventure of Mr. Antipyrene, Fire Extingusiher,” in dada performance, W. H. Sokel, ed. (PAJ Publications, 1987) 52-61.

Antonin Artaud, “Paul the Birds, or the Place of Love” and “The Spurt of Blood,” in Antonin Artaud, Selected Writings, Susan Sontag, ed., Helen Weaver, tr. (UCLA Press, 1976) 61-64, 72-76.

Antonin Artaud, “There is No More Firmament,” in Artaud, Collected Works, v.2, Victor Corti, tr. (Calder & Boyars, 1968) 79-93.

Betsuyaku Minoru, “The Little Matchgirl,” in Alternative Japanese Drama: Ten Plays, Robert Rolf & John K. Gillespie, ed. (University of Hawaii Press, 1992) 27 - 51.

Susan Yankowitz, “Terminal,” in Three Works by the Open Theater, (Drama Book Specialists, 1974) 38-65.

Harold Pinter, "Trouble in the Works, The Black and White," "Request Stop," "Last to Go,"
"Special Offer"
in Harold Pinter: Complete Works Two (Grove Press, Inc., 1977), 237-249

Harold Pinter, "Night, That's All, That's Your Trouble, Applicant," "Interview," "Dialogue for
Three"
Harold Pinter: Complete Works Three (Grove Press, Inc., 1977), 223-240

Samuel Beckett, “Footfalls,” “Rockabye,” and “That Time,” in Collected Shorter Plays, (Grove Press, 1984) 237-244, 271-282, 225-235

JoAnne Akalaitis, “Dressed Like an Egg,” in WordPlays 4, (Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1979) 191-220

Lee Breuer, “Prelude to Death in Venice,” in Sister Suzie Cinema, (Theatre Communications Group, 1987) 69-86

Adrienne Kennedy, “The Owl Answers,” in Adrienne Kennedy, In One Act, (University of Minnesota Press, 1988) 25-45

Adrienne Kennedy, “Motherhood 2000,” in Plays for the End of the Century, Bonnie Marranca, ed. (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996) 1-8

David Greenspan, “Jack,” in The Way We Live Now, American Plays & the AIDS Crisis, M. Elizabeth Osborn, ed. (Theatre Communications Group, 1990) 137-167

Caryl Churchill, Far Away, (Nick Hern Books, 2000) 1-38

scripts

Copyright and Permission to Reproduce

Quite. Put. Out.
written & performed by the company
directed by the directing team
under the influence of Lee Breuer

andwiththisweresome: a crescendo & silences
written & performed by Megh Chakrabarti, Chad Hodge, Rachel Waterhouse, & Ellen Welti
directed by Blake E. Bolan
under the influence of Antonin Artaud

FLOWN FALLEN and DEADLY
written by Emily Atchison, Josh Burmeister, Ashley Hinrichs, & Camille Sultana
performed by Emily, Josh, & Ashley
under the influence of David Greenspan

Community Gardens
written & performed by Chris Blea, Jeremy Gibson, Havana Mahoney & Elizabeth Uthoff
directed by Blake E. Bolan & Chris Gregory
under the influence of Caryl Churchill

THiS LAnD oF ToPoloGies
written & performed by Megan Clark, Peter Oviatt, Amanda Paez, Cherry Sharp & Charles Sutterlin
directed by Gwethalyn Williams
under the influence of Tristan Tzara

Time Slipped Down
written & performed by Chloë Beeman, Whitney Flinn, Brad Hodge & Nick Yetter
directed by Chris Gregory
under the influence of Samuel Beckett

RIPE HAM STRIP
written & performed by the company
directed by the directing team
under the influence of Jean Cocteau

company

Emily Atchison
Chloë Beeman
Chris Blea
Josh Burmeister
Megh Chakrabarti
Megan Clark
Whitney Flinn
Jeremy Gibson
Ashley Hinrichs
Brad Hodge
Chad Hodge
Havana Mahoney
Peter Oviatt
Amanda Paez
Cherry Sharp
Camille Sultana
Charles Sutterlin
Elizabeth Uthoff
Rachel Waterhouse
Ellen Welti
Nick Yetter

staff

Director: Gwethalyn Williams

Assistant Directors: Blake Bolan, Chris Gregory

Assistant to the Director: Stephine Bowman

Producer: Jim Hamilton

Assistant to the Producer: Livia Olson

Lights and Sound: Ryan Mott and Kevin Terry