The world premiere of "The Curse of Oedipus"

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - June 4, 2014 - PRLog -- A curse lies upon the land of Thebes and its ill-fated rulers Oedipus the King, Jocasta the Queen and Creon the high counselor—a curse that reiterates generation upon generation. The suffering of the people provides a battleground against which Apollo and Dionysus contend for power over the mortal realm. Playwright Kenneth Cavander, director Casey Stangl and the actors of Antaeus Company have distilled the legends of three generations into a single evening of drama, telling the story of a land and people caught in a web of pride and self-destruction.

In The Curse of Oedipus, the legends of three generations have been distilled into a single evening of drama to impart the story of a land and people caught in a web of pride and self-destruction — a battleground against which  Apollo and Dionysus contend for power over the mortal realm. Drawing on the numerous, often contradictory legends surrounding the figure of Oedipus, this monumental work combines newly translated dialogue from Sophocles and Euripides and other ancient Greek poets with new, original material gleaned from lost plays that exist only in synopsis form, lyric poetry and retold mythology.

“The production is epic, sweeping —and still evolving,” says Stangl. “It’s primal, emotional and fluid, punctuated by live percussion and drumming. The action is set in ancient Greece, but the language and costumes have a contemporary feel. The aesthetic is timeless.”

The journey began in 2011, when Stangl directed a ClassicsFest workshop of Cavander’s The Legend of Oedipus, a two-part re-telling that had premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1988. The project was so massive, that Stangl approached the playwright to suggest condensing the Oedipus story into one evening. That led to the development of an entirely new endeavor which Cavander, Stangl and the Antaeus actors have been developing for nearly three years, including a workshop production at the Getty Villa in 2013 under the title Oedipus the Man.

Performances of The Curse of Oedipus take place June 19throughAug. 10on Thursdays and Fridays at8 pm; Saturdays at2 p.m.and 8 p.m.; and Sundaysat2 p.m. (no matinee performance on Saturday, June 21). There will be six previews, June 12-June 18, on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Tuesday and Wednesday, all at 8 p.m., and Sunday at2 p.m. Talk back Thursdays begin on June 26: stay after the performance and discuss the play with the cast. Tickets to the Opening Weekend performances on June 19, June 20, June 21 and June 22 are $34, after which all tickets are $30 on Thursdays and Fridays and $34 on Saturdays and Sundays; previews are $15. The Antaeus Company is located at 5112 Lankershim Blvd in North Hollywood, CA 91601. Parking is available for $7 in the lot at 5125 Lankershim Blvd. (west side of the street), just south of Magnolia.The theater is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. For reservations and information, call 818-506-1983 or go to www.antaeus.org.