The School of Performance Presents: gore (i want to disappear)

By Elena Belyea

Directed by Emma Tibaldo

GREEK TRAGEDY. QUEER FUTURISM. FANFICTION.

Agamemnon kills Artemis’ prize stag. Iphigenia and Cassandra deal with the consequences. Orestes and Pylades go to war. Klytemnestra and Electra weigh revenge as self-care. The Furies drink Gatorade. A contemporary retelling of Aeschylus' THE ORESTEIA written by Elena Belyea. Source for this text: Tiny Bear Jaws’ website.

Nov 25 Performance #1 8PM

Nov 26 Performance #2 8PM

Nov 27 Performance #3 8PM

Nov 28 Performance #4 2PM

Content Warning (including spoilers)

Murder, betrayal, grief. Suicide (part of a scene’s action, but not depicted literally). Suicidal ideation, depression, anxiety.

A brother asks his sister to kill him (she refuses).

Drug and alcohol abuse (vaping, weed, beer).

Sex with a strap-on (part of the scene’s action, not depicted literally).

Discussions and mentions of penetrative sex (as well as a fear of engaging with it, connected to internalized homophobia).

A character discovers she had sex with someone who contributed to the death of her sibling.

Mention of a woman being abducted and sexually assaulted (recounted afterwards, not described in detail or depicted) then dismembering her abusers (not described in detail or depicted).

A character gets an erection in the presence of a dead body.

A mother ends her own life to save her children.

Mention of war, war crimes, colonization, and colonial destruction of a land, people and culture.

A father encourages a son to hide his queerness.

A trans daughter describes delaying coming out, due to feeling neglected by her mother.

By the end of the play, the character who was sexually assaulted and abducted returns home and helps restore her community.

The play’s queer and trans characters (except for Iphigenia, who is killed by her father in one of the first scenes) all survive and live long lives.

Despite her murder, Iphigenia is okay (she and her mother Klytemnestra enjoy their afterlives). 

Source for this text: Tiny Bear Jaws’ website.