“The Greek audience knew that the workings of the gods were inscrutable; they didn’t need a play to prove that bleak fact. The amazing accomplishment they were faced with in Oedipus was the presentation of a character who, despite the familiar limitations of our mortality and for the sake of his people, battles the silence of the world and makes it speak.” – Ellen McLaughlin
OYL’s production of Ellen’s Oedipus, translated by Meropi Papastergiou, will feature a 30 member cast from the USA performing in Greek. It will feature movement direction by Natalie Lomonte and an original score by Rinde Eckert. Leon Ingulsrud will play Oedipus, with Ellen McLaughlin in the role of Jocasta. OYL has hosted an annual creative residency in Greece since 2007, and this production of Oedipus in the summer of 2024 will mark OYL’s performance debut in Greece on a professional scale.
OYL’s production of Medea will feature Akiko Aizawa in the role of Medea, and Georgia Tsangaraki as the head of the chorus. The production examines Medea as a force, speaking to the primal need for revenge in a world out of balance. Here we see Medea as eternal mother, as earth shaker, as prophet, and as destroyer of all we hold holy. Medea will premiere in the fall of 2024.
How do we grieve? How do we grieve together? In a contemporary landscape of doubt, confusion and division, two friends negotiate the timeless process of coming to terms with loss. The intensely private mixes with the excruciating and often comically public, while around them the world oscillates between comfort and nightmare. The premiere of WAKE is projected for October 2025 at 59E59 Theaters in New York City.