Minotaur
Minos, King of Crete, was supposed to sacrifice a magnificent white bull to Poseidon, but he so admired this gorgeous beast that he couldn’t do it. Poseidon, enraged by this defiance cursed Minos’ wife, Pasiphae with a fierce lust for the bull. To slake her desire, Pasiphae hired Daedelus, master craftsman, to build her a super hot cow outfit. It worked. And thus the Minotaur was born, half human-half bull. Minos, to hide this shameful act, once again put Daedelus to work constructing a massive maze- The Labyrinth, in which to hide the Minotaur. Every nine years, seven youths and seven maidens were tossed into the labyrinth to be chased and devoured by him, thus securing him as an object of terror. That is until Theseus, professional monster slayer, came to shore. Ariadne, the Minotaur’s half-sister, swooning over Theseus’ muscles and big boat, made him a deal: If he married her and took her away, she would help him kill the beast and come out alive. And so it was that a magic ball of thread undid the Minotaur, and scored one more point on Theseus’ kill list.
In her play, “Half-Breed”, Veronica intends to juxtapose the framework of the Minotaur myth with the reality of living a liminal existence. We all know what it feels like to be neither “one” nor “the other”. From a mixed-race perspective, she will explore the tenuous state of being “in-between”. What are the labyrinths we build for ourselves to hide in? Where does the need to hide come from? And ultimately, which way is out?
MINOTAUR or THE STRING’S THE THING by Veronica Tjioe
Directed by Veronica Tjioe
Staged Reading on November 15, 2014
Sunee Kiernan (Aster)
Kelvyn Mitchell (Stage Directions)
Gabrielle Poccia (D)
Veronica holds an MA in Theatre Arts from UC Santa Cruz where she performed, sewed costumes, and wrote plays. Her first work, Dead Dog’s Bone: A Birthday Play, won the Dharma Grace Award in 2012. Her second, The Last Croissant, has had staged readings at a Bonnydoon orchard over-looking the sea, the Mountain Community Theater, and Swan Theater in Somerset, England. Her proudest moment was performing as Viola in Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s touring educational “To-Go” production of Twelfth Night. This is her second year with SF Olympians, having read the parts of Iphigenia and Polyxena in Under the Gods’ Golden Cleats, an adaptation of Achilles, last year. You may find her working the bar at Speakeasy Ales & Lagers.
The image of the Minotaur was created of Rogernald “Rusty” Jackson!