SF Olympians

The Monster Ball is Here!

This year we are excited to debut 28 new plays by 30 local writers- 13 of whom will be contributing written work to the festival for the first time! The plays range from shorts to one-acts to full-lengths, and each one explores a different monster from Greek mythology. The 2014 festival will play 12 nights, November 5-22, Wednesday through Saturday, at the EXIT Theatre in San Francisco (156 Eddy Street). Tickets are $10.00 at the door, and can be purchased starting at 7:30 the night of the show. All shows begin at 8 PM. Audience members who attend more than four nights get the fifth free.

This year’s fine artists include: Molly Benson, Liz Conley, Maxon Crumb, Brett Grunig, Lacey C. Hawkins, Rusty Jackson, Emily C. Martin, Tonya Narvaez, Ashley Ramos, Cody Rishell, Aliana Rood, Michelle Talgarow, Brian Yee. The art will be on display at the EXIT Theatre the entire month of November!

This year’s lineup, all shows beginning at 8 PM.

November 5: Nymphs! Nymphs! Nymphs!

ASTERIAE or KING SISYPHUS by Bridgette Dutta Portman, directed by Valerie Fachman
When you’re trying to cheat death, it helps to have an immortal star-nymph as a wife. Or does it? A play in verse about the trickster Sisyphus and his wife, the Pleiad Merope.

DRYADS or THE DRYAD OF SUBURBIA by Marissa Skudlarek, directed by Valerie Fachman
In a suburban neighborhood blighted by both conformity and drought, Tom and Heidi’s daughter is convinced that she’s a tree spirit. Is this an innocent childhood game or a harmful delusion?

LAMPADES or LAMP RITUAL by Sam Bertken, Scott Baker
What is your greatest fear? Darkness? Madness? Losing a loved one? The reading of Lamp Ritual profiles an experiential piece that seeks to conquer your darkest nightmares.

NAIADS by Jennifer Roberts, directed by Valerie Fachman
When the CEO of Archon Energy, the world’s most powerful utility company, tries to greenwash away responsibility for dumping toxins into a dying river, a Naiad tries to inspire her to reconsider, but who will pay the ultimate price?

NEPHELE by Siyu Song, directed by Scott Baker
Watch Zeus take to the latest trend in online dating as he Catfishes an unsuspecting human - what happens at 6:34 of this play will ASTOUND you.

NEREIDS or THE WEAVERS by Sam Hurwitt, directed by Scott Baker
Odysseus is gone again, and Penelope isn’t waiting around anymore. Looking up all her husband’s old girlfriends, she finds the sea nymph Calypso spoiling for a fight.

OCEANIDS or THE DAUGHTERS OF OCEAN by Carol Lashof, directed by Valerie Fachman
In the war to restore Paganism, Prometheus has been taken captive by the ruling Christian Theocratic party. His wife, the sea nymph Hesione, is desperate to rescue him, but to reach his side she must cross a terrifying human city crowded with air-breathers, highways, and big box stores.

OREADS or POWER FORWARD by Leah Halper, directed by Scott Baker
Chelone, a mountain nymph and protector of tortoises, is the only immortal to stand up to Zeus on the matter of his coerced marriage to Hera-but her defiance may be contagious in this Silicon Valley re-conception of the myth that explained why tortoises have shells.

November 6: Half-Men

CENTAURS or THE HORSE’S ASS by Megan Cohen, directed by Ellery Schaar
A postmodern vaudeville comedy for two hilarious women, who spend a fleet forty minutes taking turns being the butt of the joke. Writer Megan Cohen (SF’s most-produced female playwright, Theatre Bay Area “Keep An Eye On” Emerging Artist Honoree, Neo-Futurist) saddles up history’s greatest half-human half-equine metaphor for a ride through power dynamics, carrots, and sticks.

SATYRS or SATYR NIGHT FEVER by Annette Roman and Bryant Turnage, directed by Greg Young
Since when did “horny as a goat” become a bad thing? A satyr who’s lost his mojo hires a modern-day pick-up artist as a dating coach in this bawdy romantic comedy exploring dating taboos past and present, real and mythic.

November 7: Winged Wonder

PEGASUS or PEGASUS: THE MOVIE (THE PLAY) by Kirk Shimano, directed by Sam Tillis
The story of the myth-makers of today, as a ragtag visual effect company scrambles to create an all-digital creature without destroying themselves in the process.

November 8: The Lord of The Beasts

PAN or PANDEMONIUM by Stuart Bousel, directed by Stuart Bousel
In a first for the festival, Stuart Bousel adapts six stories by E.M. Forster into a sprawling epic about a group of travelers whose lives are forever changed by a shared afternoon in the hills of Italy.

November 12: Deadly Dragons

TYPHON or THE BOOK OF TYPHON by Colin Johnson, directed by Colin Johnson
When a bizarre, withered text falls into the possession of one Malcolm Bodwin, it exposes him to the world’s oldest, most unspeakable evil.

HYDRA by Tonya Narvaez, directed by Tonya Narvaez
A family’s monsters come back to terrorize them. How far will they go to hide their past?

November 13: Evil Eyes

ARGUS by Peter Hsieh, directed by Rory Strahan-Mauk
After an embarrassing “Swan incident” scandal, Hera summons super surveillance drone Argus to spy on her husband Zeus. Trouble ensues when Hera discovers that Zeus had picked up a girl he met at a night club and turned her into a heifer in order to keep her hidden. Featuring sex, violence, blackmail, scandal, indestructible private jets, Ryan Gosling Mods, and Lars Von Trier’s entire filmography.

POLYPHEMUS by Vince Faso, directed by Rory Strahan-Mauk
Polyphemus, the hulking, savage, man-eating Cyclops, was outsmarted, blinded, and humiliated by the crafty Odysseus. Years later, when fate brings them together again, will there be room for forgiveness, or just dessert?

November 14: Three Heads Too Many

CERBERUS or HELLHOUND by Allison Page, directed by Allison Page
Six attractive 18 year olds fueled by teenage lust go camping in the woods and stumble across The River Styx, causing a three headed monster to pursue them with bloody fervor. It’s The Breakfast Club meets Cabin In The Woods meets a giant three-headed hellhound. Button up that letterman jacket - it’s going to be a bumpy night.

CHIMERA by Annie Paladino, directed by Addie Ulrey
A patchwork play for a patchwork monster, CHIMERA smashes together three stories-from the past, a dreamy version of the present, and an imagined future-of women who are not at ease in their own skin. Literary heroines, a woman whose body is literally coming apart at the seams, and a robotic superhero toy in need of a replacement head are spliced together to form the ugly, baffling monster that is this play.

November 15: Lone Hunters

GERYON or THE RED HOUSE MONSTER by Rachel Bublitz, directed by Ariel Craft
The largest house on the island sits high upon a hill, chains wrap around the doors and windows. No one can remember if these barricades were intended to keep the villagers out, or to keep the inhabitants within.

MINOTAUR by Veronica Tjioe, directed by Veronica Tjioe
A play for anyone who has ever felt lost and a profound sense of “in-betweeness” and would please like to know which way is out, thankyouverymuch. It is also good for lovers of cheap wine, close friends, and the merits of a nice ball of string.

November 19: Triple Threats

SIRENS or THE SISTERS SIRENE by Amelia Bethel and Christine Keating, directed by Libby Vega
The five Siren sisters have been maintaining chaos and bringing sexy back for millennia, but what happens when one sister longs for a new, less brutal, life? If you like sex and gore, with a sprinkle of mythological fervor, you’ll love The Sisters Sirene.

THE GRAEAE by Madeline Puccioni, directed by Libby Vega
The Three Graeae are the oldest goddesses in the world…so old they only have one eye and one tooth between them. Enyo’s the grumpiest, Deino is the best chef, and Pamphredo can still shape shift into a swan or a siren…sometimes both. Then she falls in love with Perseus, who will betray them all to find out where their sister Medusa lives…

HARPIES by Victoria Chong Der, directed by Libby Vega
Never mess with sisters.

November 20: Dangerous Brains

SPHINX by Jeremy Geist, directed by Christine Keating
After Oedipus guesses the Sphinx’s riddle, the Sphinx’s writing staff desperately tries to come up with a new one.

November 21, 2014: Dangerous Beauty

MEDUSA or BEAUTY SECRETS * by Andrew Saito, directed by Rem Myers
Medusa, a Kim Kardashian-esque celebrity, has an accident that severely scars her face and head while filming her first major movie, playing Helen of Troy. She retreats into seclusion. Years later, Medusa takes a blind sculptor as her live-in lover. His brother, Percy, an Air Force veteran, soon visits. He recognizes Medusa from her former life, and decides to share her face with the world.

* Beauty Secrets by Andrew Saito was co-commissioned by the Cutting Ball Theater where Saito is the current Andrew Mellon Foundation Playwright in Residence.

November 22: Vagina Dentata

CHARYBDIS by Ashley Cowan, directed by Melinda Marks
It’s the night before Thanksgiving in an Overeaters Anonymous meeting. Only, things aren’t that anonymous when you’re starving and you run into your old high school classmates. So grab a snack and learn the tale of the lady who turned a sea monster for having an appetite.

ECHIDNA by Neil Higgins, directed by Melinda Marks
A serial killer is terrorizing San Francisco. Can gritty, play-by-his-own-rules Detective Argus stop the killer in time? Or has he finally met his match?

SCYLLA or DEATH BY THE HALF-DOZEN by Christian Simonsen, directed by Melinda Marks
Scylla is about to devour six of Odysseus’ battle-weary sailors. But instead of hungry reptilian jaws, each victim will see a vision of the one person in his life that inflicted - or received - the most pain. Are a woman’s tears really sharper than a serpent’s tooth?

Our incredible acting company this year includes Vonn Scott Bair, Erika Bakse, Patrick Barresi, Stuart Bousel, Molly Benson, Megan Briggs, Xanadu Bruggers, Sarah Rose Butler, Andrew Calabrese, Andrew Chung, Tony Cirimele, Megan Cohen, George Coker, Michael Conner, Alan Coyne, Colleen Egan, Juliana Egley, Alisha Ehrlich, Fatima Zahra El Filali, Nkechi Emeruwa, Angela Entzminger, Caitlin Evenson, Vince Faso, Allison Fenner, Jean Forsman, Rose Marie Fox, Frankie G., Tim Garcia, Jan Gilbert, Lorenz Gonzalez, James Grady, Ben Grubb, Matt Gunnison, Audrey Hannah, Mary Cait Hogan, Monica Ho, J Jha, Shelley Lynn Johnson, Heather Kellogg, Gabriel Kenney, Sunee Kiernan, Annabelle King, Abni Kris, Katrina Kroetch, Dan Kurtz, Keith Larson, Maria Leigh, William Leschber, Charles Lewis III, Carl Lucania, Adam Magill, Brian Martin, Mary Matabor, Stacey Matthews-Winn, Carlos Mendoza, Kelvyn Mitchell, Tonya Narvaez, Trinity Nay, Eden Neuendorf, Michelle Owen, Allison Page, Sunil Patel, Danielle Perata, Genevieve Perdue, Laura Peterson, Gabrielle Poccia, Scott Ragle, Radhika Rao, Leer Relleum, Nickolas Rice, Paul Rodrigues, Hilda Roe, Tina Rutsch, Sharon Rylander, Sophia Santulli, Kim Saunders, Karl Schackne, Samantha Schmitt, Amber Sommerfeld, Elissa Beth Stebbins, Jacinta Sutphin, Carole Swann, Sango Tajima, Ron Talbot, Griffin Taylor, Nick Trengove, Kitty Torres, Aaron Tworek, Nicky Weinbach, Matthew Weinberg, Richard Wenzel, Steven Westdahl, Teri Whipple, Indiia Wilmot, Susannah Wood, Steffanos X, Alaska Yamada, Marlene Yarosh, Jessica Yeh, Maggie Ziomek