Behold, the virgin goddess, Pomona, tending her garden. Untouched. Unsoiled. Ready to be discovered, quested for, and presumably wooed and/or deceived and/or plundered out of her v-card. Enter Vertumnus, in various disguises, attempting to succeed where others have failed. God, why won’t these losers just leave her alone and let her tend to her apples?
Of her play about the myth of Vertumnus and Pomona, Stacey Winn writes, “It raises fascinating questions about deception in intimate relationships, consent, and objectification of the female body. The image of the walled garden is a common one in literature, and is often used as a symbol for the cloistered existence expected of women. The walled garden as a symbol for purity can be mapped to Eden, a high tower in which a maiden is being held, or even a chastity belt (though that is, admittedly, a bit on the nose. Or on the… I digress.). Exploring the fetishization of virginity, and related attempts control the female body, is a deeply personal pursuit for me. I emerged (relatively) unscathed from the “True Love Waits” culture and I’m still unpacking the baggage.”
POMONA by Stacey Winn
Directed by Allison Page
Staged Reading on October 19, 2017 at the EXIT Theatre
Elaine Gavin (Stage Directions)
Christine Hong (Pomona)
Nicole Odell (Server)
Gabriel Sanchez (Vertumnus)
While this is Stacey’s fourth year participating in the San Francisco Olympians festival, it is her first year participating as a writer, and she finds sitting on the other side of the table exciting and terrifying in equal measure. Her recent acting credits include appearances at PlayGround, Pittsburg Community Theater, and in the upcoming web series, Artemis Rising. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, with a double major in Theater and English. Her nonfiction and ghostwritten work has been published by the National Cyber Security Alliance, ITProPortal, and Tech Week Europe.
The image of Pomona was created by Cody A. Rishell.