MEDEA NOIR:: the Talos Ensemble production


	Medea... Medea... Medea... what is it that makes her one of the most compelling women in history?

		From Euripides through the succeeding centuries, she is at the center of a ritual myth that provides one of the most powerful and contemporary dramas in Western theatre... contemporary in its portrayal of a woman trapped between her submission to a man's love and her refusal to submit to the dominance of a man's society.

At the end of Euripides' remarkable view of what it is to be a woman and a woman of power in a man's society, Medea leaves a day of horror, somewhat repentent, but unpunished. This stunning climax has stuck in the craw of Western society, particularly Judaic-Christian society for over 2500 years. The result has been thousands of self-redeeming, self-righteous performances and scholarly critiques that relieve themselves with the conclusive portrait of a witch, an evil woman, the nightmare that echoes under the marriage bed.

Medea Noir, taken in part from the Euripides story with newly adapted translations of the original, follows Medea to Athens and the sanctuary of its king, Aegeus, who becomes the mirror of her passion and continuing anguish.


	There, ten years after the original story ends, a new story begins. And with it, a new myth of Medea the woman, the woman of power, and a woman haunted by the torment of memories that must finally be reconciled with her will to live.


	Commissioned for the 2002 Ancient Theatre Alive! International Festival in Athens, Greece, Medea Noir is a merged media production that blends the live stage with film, graphics and the strident use of lighting and music as significant characters on stage .


	The first words of this new work are: "It begins with a ritual." And so it does.


	The Storaro-esque lighting design, the cinematography of Joseph Beachy, the chanting-percussive mix of character-driven music, and the highly stylistic costume design blend to envelope and interact with intense characterizations that emerge from an intense sense of reality.


	Yet it is acting that is the focus of Talos... and of Medea Noir strong, articulate, carefully crafted, directed toward a unique experience for audiences.

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