Laodike

Laodike was a Trojan princess, one of the many children of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. According to some scholars, Laodike was the most beautiful of their daughters; according to others, Cassandra was the most beautiful (however, she was also crazy). Thus, when Laodike’s brother Paris stole Helen and brought her back to Troy, Laodike was demoted to being either the second- or third-most-beautiful woman in the palace, depending on which source you trust. The Greeks then sent a special delegation led by Acamas, Theseus’s son, to negotiate for Helen’s return. Acamas and Laodike had an affair while he was in Troy on his diplomatic mission; she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, Munitus. By this time, diplomacy had failed and war had broken out. Not much is known of Laodike’s conduct during the ten years of the Trojan War. However, on the last night of battle, as the Greeks invaded and razed the city, Laodike was desperate to avoid becoming captured and enslaved. She prayed to the gods for mercy, and a chasm opened up in the earth and swallowed her whole. It is believed that Persephone took pity on her and allowed her to be transported alive to Hades in this fashion.

Playwright Marissa Skudlarek says: “I’m fascinated by the relationship and rivalry that must have existed between Laodike and Helen. Laodike is accustomed to being the most beautiful woman in Troy — until her brother Paris brings Helen to come live in the palace. Moreover, as Laodike sees it, she’s spent her whole life as a sheltered princess, while Helen has tasted romance and adventure. Thus, Laodike decides to one-up Helen (and have her own adventure) by seducing Acamas. But her plan backfires: Laodike is a Trojan princess, and you know that the stories of the Trojan women never end happily…”

LAODIKE by Marissa Skudlarek
Directed by Jacqueline Peters
staged reading on Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Erica Bakse (Laodike)

Carlye Pollack (Helen)

Nick Trengove (Acamas)

Marissa Skudlarek is thrilled to be back for a fourth year with the San Francisco Olympians Festival. After serving as box-office manager for the 2010 festival, she wrote the full-length drama Pleiades in 2011 and the screenplay Aphrodite, or the Love Goddess in 2012. Pleiades will be published in Heavenly Bodies, the forthcoming collection of plays from the 2011 Olympians Festival, and will receive a staged reading in Myrtle Beach, SC in April 2013. Additionally, Skudlarek wrote the introduction for Songs of Hestia, a published collection of five plays from the 2010 Olympians Festival. Her other full-length plays include Deus ex Machina (Young Playwrights Festival National Competition winner, 2006), Marginalia, and The Rose of Youth (Marilyn Swartz Seven Award and Vassar College production, 2008; staged reading at the EXIT Theatre, 2013). Her shorter plays have been produced by San Francisco Theater Pub, Un-Scripted Theatre, Wily West Productions, and the San Francisco One-Minute Play Festival. Theater Pub is also producing her new translation of Jean Cocteau’s Orphée in April 2013. Skudlarek writes a twice-monthly column, “Hi-Ho, The Glamorous Life” for San Francisco Theater Pub’s blog. She can also be found writing about books, music, theater and more at marissabidilla.blogspot.com, or on Twitter @MarissaSkud.

The piece of art for Laodike was created by Lacey Hill Hawkins!