Psamathe
Psamathe is the goddess of sandy beaches and King Aeacus of Aegina raped her on a sandy beach. Also, she is a mom and a wife and a daughter and, you know, divine but, by most accounts, the rape takes center stage in her story. Gifted with a notable human figure, a “graceful body” of some fame, Psamathe could also shape shift. In fact, she tried changing into a seal to dissuade Aeacus, but to no avail. It may be that he actually raped her while she held the form of seal. Aeacus is the son of Aegina (the nymph not the island) and Zeus, conceived after Zeus, in the form of eagle, captured Aegina and raped her. So, among other themes, assault and shape shifting keep popping up in the world of Psamathe.
What must that feel like? To be goddess of something really breathtakingly lovely, the white sand of the Grecian Isles, the pride of travel websites, and then have someone stalk you and attack you right there? How very confusing. This play gives Psamathe a chance to consider what it’s like to live in a world with deities who do not seek any ethical correctness, immortals greater than humans only in their physical prowess, ability to shape shift and influence outcomes. It’s a chance for this Nereid to explain what it’s like to try and survive always looking over your shoulder for someone in the guise of a bull or a swan or persistent human who will rape you on your own sand, to wonder why this is the story we tell about her and, of course, make a travel pitch for us to all come visit her idyllic, clean, white sand beaches.
PSAMATHE by Kathryn Kruse
Directed by Stuart Bousel
Staged Reading on November 5, 2015
Kathryn Kruse is jazzed to be writing her first piece for SF Olympians. New to San Francisco, the festival is one of her first experiences working with other artists in the city and she’s having a good time. Kathryn completed her MFA at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas where she founded and curated the NeonLit reading series, ran collaborative art projects and served as the Graduate Writing Program Coordinator. She has a BA in, among other things, Creative Writing from University of Wisconsin-Madison where she won the Eudora Welty Fiction Prize. She has also lived on a bunch of continents and worked in education, violence intervention and public health. Among other places, her work is published in Indiana Review, The Manchester Review, theEEEL and The Adirondack Review.