SF Olympians

Castor and Pollux, together called the Dioskouri (Greek) or the Gemini (Latin), were twin half-brothers born to Leda. Castor was fully mortal, fathered by Leda’s husband King Tyndarus of Sparta, as was his sister Clytemnestra. Pollux was divine, fathered by Zeus when he seduced Leda in the form of a swan, and in some tales hatched from the same egg as his sister Helen (yes, that one). The twins were renowned horsemen and hunters who adventured with Jason as members of the Argo’s crew. During the voyage, Pollux notably defeated the king of the Bebryces in a boxing match; later, the appearance of stars on their foreheads during a storm marked them as the divine patrons of sailors. In another adventure, they invaded Attica as revenge for Theseus’ abduction of Helen. Castor and Pollux sought to marry the daughters of Leucippus, Phoebe and Hilaeira, but the sisters were already engaged to the twins’ cousins, Idas and Lynceus. The twins abducted and wed the sisters; Idas and Lynceus sought revenge by cheating the twins out of their share of a cattle-raid the four had participated in. The subsequent brawl resulted in the deaths of Idas, Lynceus and Castor. However the heartbroken Pollux was able to convince the gods to allow him to share his immortality with his brother. This was granted, allowing the twins to alternate between Olympus and Hades.

Of her play abut Castor and Pollux, Alandra Hillman writes, “Twins Cas and Paul are nearly identical – played the same high school sports, reached the same rank in the Navy, married to sisters – and nearly inseparable until the night Cas gets stabbed in a bar fight. Suddenly faced with the realization of Cas’ mortality, Paul sits in the waiting room and contemplates a terrifying question: how much of himself is he truly willing to share with his brother?”

CASTOR/POLLUX by Alandra Hillman
Directed by Steven Westdahl
Staged Reading on November 11, 2015

Alandra Hileman is a writer, director, recovering stage manager, and arts administrator, currently hovering about the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a double BA in Theatre & English from San Francisco State University, where she recently returned to pursue her MFA in Playwriting. Her short plays have received readings and production with SFSU, Do It Live! Productions, and 99 Stock Productions, where she formerly served as Administrative Director). She works regularly in a variety of capacities with Central Works, the Live Oak Theatre, The Breadbox, Awesome Theatre, and will soon be taking on the mantle of Managing Director for the newly-formed Quantum Dragon Theatre. Sometimes she even gets paid for all of this. Visit www.ajhileman.com for sporadic but juicy updates and pretty, pretty pictures of actors.