SF Olympians

The Trojan Horse is the first “Final Solution” in western military history. In the tenth year of the Trojan War, the commander of the Argive army, Agamemnon, tasks his smartest man, Odysseus, with coming up with a way inside Troy’s impenetrable walls. Odysseus envisions the Horse, though in some versions he is inspired by Poseidon, and in others by Athena. The Horse is constructed from the broken ships of the Argive army and bits of driftwood. It is large enough that as many as two dozen men (depending on the poet) are sequestered inside, fully armed, so that when the Trojans take the horse into their walls, these same men are able to slip out in the night and open the gates of the city, leaving it vulnerable to the hidden army waiting outside. Famously, the prophet Laocoon and the princess Cassandra both denounce the Horse as a trick, but neither is listened to and the Trojans claim what they believe is a peace offering from their rivals, thus prompting the famous saying “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” The Trojan Horse itself has lived on in popular vernacular in a variety of ways, usually implying something that is two-faced or treacherous in nature, a terrible thing disguised as a beautiful one, or that which has, inside of it, something entirely unexpected.

Fascinated with the Horse and the War in general, Stuart Bousel seeks to write a comprehensive stage version of the War, tracing it from its roots through to the fall of Troy. He will be condensing where necessary, but also illuminating specific moments that touch on the specific theme of the duality and treasure/trick aspect of the War, from the Horse to Helen to the Gods themselves, as well as the broader themes of violence, disillusionment, love, objectification, honor, legacy, history and western literature and philosophy as a whole. Rather than trying to reduce the scope of the epic to fit into the modern American theater sensibility of small cast and small space, he seeks to celebrate the erratic and almost incomprehensible nature of the war and create the largest, most extravagant play of his career with a sprawling adaptation that includes elements of his favorite versions, associated legends, and additions of his own. Stylistically, the play will combine intimate moments and traditional scenes smashed up against narrative choruses, direct address monologues, battle vistas and various experimental theater ideas and genre/tone departures such as game shows and reality tv. Will it succeed? Will it fail? Probably.

THE HORSE or SEE ALSO ALL, by Stuart Eugene Bousel
Directed by Ariel Craft
staged reading Saturday, November 23, 2013

Stuart Bousel (Stage Directions)

Mariah Jane Castle (The Beautiful Girl)

Ashley Cowan (The Smart Girl)

Eli Diamond (The Boy)

Siobhan Marie Doherty (The Proud Girl)

Mackenszie Drae (The Black Sheep)

Jan Gilbert (The Mother)

Matt Gunnison (The Man)

John Lennon Harrison (The Strong Brother)

Tavis Kammet (The Weak Brother)

Dan Kurtz (The Hero)

Maria Leigh (The Storyteller)

Carl Lucania (The Father)

Brian Martin (The Friend)

Theresa Miller (The Woman)

Paul Stout (The Old Man)

Nikolas Strubbe (The Golden Boy)

Stuart Bousel graduated from Reed College with a degree in English/Creative Writing. He has served as the artistic director of three theater companies: Quicksilver Productions (1997-2000) and Horror Unspeakable Productions (2000-2002) in Tucson, and No Nude Men Productions in San Francisco (2003-2012). He has directed a number of classic plays, including LYSISTRATA, ORESTEIA, FAUST PART ONE, SALOME, EDWARD II, LE CID, LOVE’S LABORS LOST, HAMLET, PHAEDRA, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, TWELFTH NIGHT, M. BUTTERFLY, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, TAMING OF THE SHREW, PRELUDE TO A KISS and THE FROGS, as well as the Arizona premiere of Derek Walcott’s ODYSSEY and the world premieres of David Duman’s FISHING, Alison Luterman’s OASIS, Nirmala Nataraj’s THE MONK and THE BOOK OF GENESIS REMIXED AND REMASTERED and Morgan Ludlow’s RUTH AND THE SEA. Additionally he writes plays, including THE EXILED, SPEAK TO ME, LOVE EGOS ALTERNATIVE ROCK, TROIJKA, HOUSEBROKEN, SPEAK ROUGHLY, EDENITES, JUNO EN VICTORIA, BRAINKILL, LLAMA, TWINS, PASTORELLA and POLYXENA IN ORBIT. His play VINCENT OF GILGAMESH was nominated for the MAC Award in 2001; WILD BLUE PEAKS was nominated for the Heideman Award in 2003; MATHEW 33:6 was a finalist for the Sky Cooper Award in 2007. Places his work has been performed include New York City, San Francisco, Melbourne, Dublin, Tucson and Portland. He co-wrote the Cosgrove winning short film INSOMNIA with Chris McCaleb and Amanda Karam and the mocu-mercial WISH U WERE HERE for Hosteling International. He occasionally acts as well and numbers among his credits the title role in MACBETH, Carl in THE BALTIMORE WALTZ, Matt in THE FANTASTICKS, the Record Keeper in JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL, Ned Poins in THE BOAR’S HEAD (which he also adapted from HENRY IV part 1 and 2) and the opera TOSCA, in addition to voicing a number of radio and television commercials. He is a frequent collaborator with Theater In The Woods, Custom Made Theater Company and Wily West Productions. He is a founding member of the San Francisco Theater Pub, as well as the Executive Director of the San Francisco Olympians Festival. His first novel, DRY COUNTRY, came out 2008 and is available on Amazon.com, and his website, www.horrorunspeakable.com, will tell you all about everything else he’s up to.

The piece of art for The Horse was created by Emily C. Martin!