Hatmehit began as the Goddess of Fishes, life-bringer, with her own loyal crew, following and worshipping her, as they should. Then the cult of Osiris moved in on her territory, and she was demoted first to his consort, then his wife, and finally erased altogether as her identity was subsumed by the more powerful Isis. Sound familiar? It’s a path many naive human girls have trod.
In regards to her play about Hatmehit, Patsy Fergusson writes: “We pass by the homeless daily in San Francisco, rushing off to our busy lives. Sometimes we toss them a coin or a dollar. But who are these people? Where did they come from? Do they deserve our respect? This short play explores the possibility that one old, homeless woman is much more than a disturbing inconvenience. She’s the original goddess who brought us life.”
HATMEHIT by Patsy Fergusson
Directed by Nicole Meñez
Staged Reading on October 6, 2017 at the EXIT Theatre
Sophia DiPaola (Hatmehit)
Dillon Siedentopf (Old Man)
Patsy Fergusson is a reader, writer, teacher, learner, mother, wife-goddess, Twitter-tyrant and playwright coming back for her third appearance in the Olympians Festival. “I love Greek mythology for the light it sheds on deeply-rooted and recurring human struggles,” she said, to herself, one cold night on a damp roof deck overlooking the Bay.
The image of Hatmehit was create by Marisa Darabi.