![]() The planetarium’s dome screen creates an illusion of suspension. Solorzano molded clay to create the towering columns of Athena’s temple, lending an ancient and ghostly quality to the scenes as whispers of conversations echo through the planetarium. You can see the fingerprints on it,” says Crook. The animation by Ruth Lingford and Norah Solorzano is simple yet symbolic. Silhouette figures and etched glyphics leave room for the imagination to fill in the blanks. I desire freedom,” a line that speaks to generations of people who have spoken their truth openly in pursuit of justice and liberation. We overhear many scenes like the predatorial encounter between Poseidon and Medusa and the attack itself rather than see them on screen. The show asks us to do just that: listen. It’s a huge factor in the equation of how we move forward as a society - that we bear witness and listen.” As a survivor of sexual assault, Crook says that “empowerment really comes from holding space. (Courtesy)Ĭrook told me that she has come into her own power by speaking the truth. Crook’s Athena is cool-headed and patient amongst the childish and misogynist gods. “When I think about Athena, I think about eons of being in a man’s world,” says actor, writer and activist Laura Crook who voices Athena. The goddess is met with the conflict of being a bystander to assault or enacting significant change. It sparked me to go deeper with the Medusa myth and see what came up,” says King.įeaturing more than 15 voice actors, King’s script marries contemporary language with mythological poetics, honoring Medusa’s suppressed story of survival and journey to self-love. I also saw a lot of parallels with the #MeToo movement. “I was sparked by the kind of vitriol being aimed a woman running for president. The beginnings of his Medusa script sat on the shelf until the 2016 presidential election. King says that, growing up queer and often taunted for his femininity, he was drawn to strong, complex female characters - whether it was The Wicked Witch of the West or Wonder Woman. Fox? bears witness to both the exhaustion and quiet rage of Medusa and the goddess Athena. This animated audio play with a live soundtrack by the band What Time Is It, Mr. ![]() 22 at the Museum of Science Planetarium, takes a more compassionate look at Medusa, a woman whose life is shaken by sexual assault. “MEDUSA: Reclaiming the Myth,” which has its third and final performance of the summer on Aug. Medusa’s image is stamped on our collective imagination through artistic interpretations of her as an angry and ugly monstrosity like Caravaggio’s esteemed 16th century depiction or a seductive femme fatale - think Uma Thurman in the film “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.” King takes what was once a narrative that robbed Medusa of her agency, praised a prototypical hero, and pitted Medusa and Athena against each other, and redefines it. Gloucester-based writer and musician Brian King asked his good friend, Timotha Doane, “Do you think Athena would have really punished Medusa for being raped?” Timotha, a poet and priestess, responded, “I think she was giving her a new role.” That thought turned into the first scene of King’s audio-visual play “MEDUSA: Reclaiming the Myth.” Then, a heroic Perseus severed the serpent-headed Medusa, turning her into a trophy.īut, what if Medusa’s story didn’t go exactly as we’ve been told? What if the real story had been buried under patriarchal values of male heroism and competition? A woman silenced and demonized after being sexually assaulted - that sounds all too familiar. Athena then punished her for desecrating her sacred space by cursing Medusa with a head full of snakes and a gaze that turns men to stone. The Medusa we know was raped by Poseidon in the goddess Athena’s temple. Fearsome monster-woman with snakes for hair? Medusa. Even if you are not a mythology enthusiast, you probably have a basic idea or vague image of the various gods and figures. Western culture has an enduring fascination for Greek mythology. A projection of Medusa in "Reclaiming the Myth." (Courtesy Ruth Lingford) This article is more than 3 years old.
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