Naiads
Naiads are freshwater nymphs. They provide life-sustaining water and care for infant Gods. Potameides are Naiads that preside over rivers; they are nymphs who live extraordinarily long lives, but yet, are mortal. If the river dies, so does the Naiad.
Of her play about Naiads Jennifer Lynne Roberts says, “The Catawba-Wateree river, which flows from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina through South Carolina, is listed as one of America’s top endangered rivers. On its banks sits Duke Energy, one of the largest corporate producers of pollution in the country and whose coal ash ponds are seeping toxins into the Catawba-Wateree. The combination of toxic waste spills, severe drought, and multiple dams have taken their toll on the river, bringing it to the brink. Fish are going extinct. Geese have disappeared from their waters. Cancer rates are on the rise among the communities who depend on the river as their main source of drinking water. The river is dying. And so it is here I set my play and my Naiad, on the banks of the Catawba-Wateree, where a battle for survival is waged.”
NAIADS or DEATH OF A RIVER IN 3/4 TIME by Jennifer Roberts
Directed by Valerie Fachman
Staged Reading on November 5, 2014
Xanadu Bruggers (Issa)
Colleen Egan (Elaine)
Fatima Zahra El Filali (Susan)
Rose Marie Fox (Marla)
J Jah (Chuck)
Carole Swann (CEO)
Richard Wenzel (Stage Directions)
Teri Whipple (June)
Jennifer Lynne Roberts is a playwright and producer and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of Arts. She is current president of The Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, an Associate Artist with Wily West Productions, and co-founder of the playwright collective, Infinite Monkeys. Her play, THE KILLING JAR, was a finalist for Dayton Playhouse’s FutureFest. BEEKEEPER premiered at Virago Theatre Company in 2011. Produced short plays include PHOTO DYNAMIC THERAPY with Wily West Productions and Theatre Arts West (slated), MEET CLAUDIA, MARS ONE PROJECT, and CHRYSOMELIDAE HIDE NO MORE with Wily West Productions; FREEZE TAG and PABLUM for the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco’s 24-Hour Play Fest. FACTORY FARM: A DOCUMENTARY was produced as a staged reading for Repro Rights! a benefit for Planned Parenthood with PCSF and with The Disreputables SLUT Festival in Washington, D.C. Currently she’s developing THE PENNSYLVANIAN, a full length play with original music, and BLISS POINT, a play about food, feminism, and being forcibly fed.
The image of the Naiads was created by Cody A. Rishell. You can see more of his work at here and here.