Mythodical Ensemble
be careful what you wish for...
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On Writing "Letter From Helen"

9/17/2014

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Picture
by Persephone Vandegrift

The iconic Helen of Troy, a woman blessed with such beauty that mercilessly started a war and drove grown men to the ends of the earth in order to possess it.

Why did I choose Helen?

Years ago while researching women in classical mythology, I happened to take a look at all the Helen entries. It filled two pages. Each entry attributed Helen as the cause for something or other. Helen did this, Helen did that. Helen made men go into some kind of Bacchic frenzy that caused them to pursue her everywhere in order to possess her. She was so pretty that a war was waged over her. All because she was ‘beautiful’. And each entry seemed to be dead set on one-upping the other. So much blame put on one woman.

In those legends of Helen, they never saw her as anything other than a commodity. They never looked past her surface to her heart.

Needless to say, it really, really irked me. The idea of ‘beauty’ is still a mantle forced upon society today. Both men and women obsessed with being ‘so beautiful’ in order to illicit a chorus of astonished gasps when they step outside their door. I understand the need to feel confident about one’s appearance, but the monetary, physical, and emotional backlash it has on our bodies and minds is disheartening.

‘Beauty’ is still used an excuse to commit sexual attacks. The way we ‘look’ is used as ammunition. Some get bullied for being beautiful, and others get bullied for not being the ideal representation of beauty. Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, many say. Beauty comes from within, others insist. But we know the media feels the need to tell us what we should and shouldn’t find beautiful. And sadly millions listen. That’s just the way it is, many say.  Because we let it. We enjoy it. We can’t help ourselves.

However, ‘beautiful’ people are punished for being ‘beautiful’. And for what reason? Do we not punish each other and ourselves enough? What is with all the beautiful shaming and blaming?

I continually hear people wish they were prettier, skinnier, fitter, and richer – where does it end? Consider the cost of those wishes and what we put ourselves through in order to achieve it or something close to it. Are we not enough for each other or ourselves?  When will we be?

As I churned these thoughts over and over, the need to give Helen a chance to contest her ill-fated, ill-fitting legend was clear. But so was my need to make it a universal approach. Helen never had her moment. She was oppressed, hounded, blamed, cursed, and hated. And seeing how ‘beauty’ is still oppressed, hounded, blamed and cursed today I believed it fitting that Helen be the one to speak out about it in order to take back her power and her legend, and hopefully empower others to do the same.
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Persephone Vandegrift is the playwright of Letter From Helen, a part of MythFest, which debuts as a part of Seattle Fringe Fest 2014. 



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Seattle Fringe Fest Dates and Venue!

8/5/2014

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Picture
by Carolynne Wilcox

I was so excited by Stephanie's awesome PR photos, Abi joining MythFest and our baby Mythodical Ensemble FB page getting over 100 "likes" in 24 hours that I forgot to announce the MOST EXCITING THING!

We will be performing at Eclectic Theater formerly and fondly the Odd Duck) at 1214 10th ave on Capitol Hill! The gods must've whispered this in one of our ears while we were sleeping, because long before we knew for sure, we procured a couple hours' rehearsal space there this week! 

We were all very happy to get this news - as much as we enjoyed performing in March at the Seattle Creative Arts Center with The Pocket Theater, it was definitely challenging as a theater space, so having a venue with an actual *lighting board* as well as more traditional entrance and exit options (even a center aisle up the audience!) is extremely exciting. Plus, we already performed Fate Demands It there all by its lonesome, albeit accompanied by several other original short plays in June's One-Act Play Festival, so we are definitely hitting the ground running. Yay for us!

Hope you will come see the new MythFest next month:

Thursday, September 19 at 6:00pm
Friday, September 20 at 7:30pm
Saturday, September 21 at 5:00pm
Sunday, Septmeber 22 at 2:30pm

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Introducing Abi Grace

7/31/2014

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Picture
by Carolynne Wilcox

Back before in February of this year, before MythFest graced The Pocket's roving stages, my cohorts participated in something of a preview/showcase event of upcoming attractions, where they showed a brief glimpse into the world of MythFest. I was in Mexico on the beach (which was just HORRIBLE and filled with suffering as I'm sure you can imagine).

Also part of this showcase was a singer/songwriter who sang of myth and tale. They all met her, listened to her stuff and thought she was amazing. We considered asking her to be part of our show at the time, but felt it was just too short notice.

Several months later, embarking upon our remounts, we thought it was a perfect time to see if she'd be interested and/or available to join us for our Fringe Fest shows, and maybe the remount at The Pocket...and she said YES!

So without further adieu, I present Abi Grace, singer-songwriter-storyteller extraordinaire! She's been performing since the age of 16, and currently, her music "intertwines elements of mythology and magic in attempt to explore the complicated and exhilarating experience of being human."  Sounds like a perfect fit for MythFest!

We are beside ourselves with enthusiasm to welcome her to our little group of goddesses, and hope you'll come listen to her beautiful and haunting melodies as a part of the show in September!

Learn more about Abi Grace HERE. Learn more about MythFest HERE.



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Mythfest Photo Shoot

7/22/2014

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PicturePhoto by Stephanie Mallard Couch 2014
     We had our photo shoot this past Thursday, and the weather somewhat cooperated by at least being dry and dropping by a couple degrees, but it was still pretty hot out, and some of us were in a *mood* for various and totally legitimate reasons that had nothing to do with MythFest and everything to do with things like traffic, technology and transportation issues!

     Location photo shoots, especially in public places, are always interesting, though I felt I'd done a pretty good job of finding a place with less foot & auto traffic, than, say, the column park on the corner of Pike and Boren. However, as we were getting ready to start up, a fitness group came by to do a workout in the space! They were really nice and neither group got in each other's way, but it was definitely an interesting element to work with, i.e. trying to artfully angle the shots so we didn't end up with spandex-clad aerobicizers in the background.

     It took us a little over an hour, but we managed to get most of what we were interested in, especially some fun, stylized shots of us with red scarves over our faces...I feel like a bit of a broken record with this image (having used it now, several times) but I can't help it - it's a striking image. Judge for yourself - I've included a couple of Stephanie's shots below, amid a couple of my *far less superior* phone shots.


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Kicking off MythFest Blog

7/17/2014

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PictureColumns at 15th and Union
by Carolynne Wilcox

AH! The inaugural post of what I *hope* becomes many more, especially as we get cooking here in the countdown to Seattle Fringe Festival - we are eagerly awaiting to hear our times and venue, and will post it and probably scream it all over town once we do know, because that's just the kind of excited we are to remount MythFest!

Towards that end, we have a shoot today for publicity photos, up at...I'm not really sure if it's a park, exactly, or a public area connected with the building next to it (which MAY be a church of some kind - will have to investigate further this evening) - but it's at the corner of 15th and Union up on Capitol Hill and - has four lovely, Greek-looking columns as well as some nice archways. And the weather has cooperated by becoming cloudy and much cooler, which bodes well for us delicate Seattle flowers who positively *wilt* when the temperature climbs above 80 (it has been in the mid-80's/90's for the past two weeks)! Especially since we will be wearing black.

I love "art directing" (if that's what you call it...) photo shoots for theatre - publicity photos aren't meant to be actual show photos, so you can have some fun with them. I'll also be designing the poster from what we get at this photo shoot so have to make sure we've got some great, evocative action shots!

Will elaborate more tomorrow on the shoot itself...

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Carolynne Wilcox is a co-founder of Mythodical Ensemble. 


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    Mythodical Ensemble

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