MEDEA/BRITNEY

ABOUT

MEDEA/BRITNEY is a one-woman multimedia performance piece juxtaposing the Greek character of Medea with the modern tragedy and public consumption of contemporary pop icon Britney Spears. By contrasting the character of Medea with the public tragedy of Britney Spears, MEDEA/BRITNEY uses multimedia elements to explore themes of proper femininity, the performative properties of public female bodies and the mythology of motherhood. The one-person show re-locates Medea's story to Spears' bathroom in 2008 when, at the height of her highly-publicized breakdown, she locked herself in the bathroom with her children. Subsequently, she was hospitalized and an on-going conservatorship was granted to her father. The show juxtaposes Medea's decision to carry out the murder with Spears' choice to return the children, considering the women's respective punishments.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

MEDEA/BRITNEY was devised as part of a class taught by Kate Whoriskey at NYU’s Experimental Theatre Wing. After further development at NYU, the project received a workshop production at The Living Gallery, curated as part of Thirsty Theatre Nights, in 2015. In October 2019, a re-imagined workshop was presented as part of FringeCLUB, an initiative of the NYC Fringe, at the Nuyorican Poets Café. Then, the piece received its official premiere production at the Dorothy B. Williams Theatre at HERE as part of the Co-op@HERE program December 6th-8th.

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CREDITS

MEDEA/BRITNEY

Featuring Sophia Frank

Directed and Written by James Clements

Production, Set, Costume, and Video Design by Pablo Calderón Santiago

Lighting by Jack Scaletta

Produced by the Cloudbusters

Presented by What Will The Neighbors Say?

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Photography by Pablo Calderón Santiago