Penelope's Odyssey
Digital Version Available February 2021
#penelopesodysseydance
Learn more at our webinars!!!
Her husband left for war and has been MIA for ten years. She's a single mother and her son is coming of age. 108 suitors are vying for her hand in marriage - but what they really want is her throne. Her loyal maid-servant is hungry for a life of her own. Her other employee is a backstabber. She's hanging on as long as she can to make the choices she wants to make.
Inspired by the female characters in Homer's "The Odyssey."
Women's voices. Men listening. Equilibrium.
Meet the Cast of Characters
Women's Voices in Antiquity and Now with Professor Lauren Caldwell
December 8, 2020 5pm-6pm
How do gender roles determine the way women’s voices are heard, interpreted, and hindered? Lauren Caldwell, professor of classics at UMass Amherst, will join choreographer Sonia Plumb to examine how gender roles defined and limited a woman’s ability to carve out her personal and professional lives in ancient Greek and Roman cultures. Choreographer Sonia Plumb will share how Caldwell's research led to her contemporary version in the dance Penelope’s Odyssey. (Due to COVID, Penelope's Odyssey will premier in digital form February 2021.)
Co-sponsored with Wadsworth Atheneum.
Supported in part by CTHumanities.org.
The Design Team
The Scribe: Videographer Bryan Swormstedt
Bryan Swormstedt (Projections) holds an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design where he majored in Film and Television. He has explored acting, puppetry, digital media and music in his pursuits of generating socially responsible and compelling works of art. In addition to creating the Da Vinci inspired Projections for Dance of Da Vinci, Bryan is just finishing up post-production work on an original pilot, Potbelly: A Puppetry Cooking Show. He is also just beginning pre-production on a new animated series entitled Grizzly Bear Blues.
Costumes: Chinnyere McPherson
FASCHINN was founded by Chinnyere McPherson, a rising fashion designer and stylist, with over 13 years of hands on fashion experience. Anyone that knows McPherson personally, will tell you that she’s always had an innate gift for art and design. Sketching since age 9 and working in the retail industry since the age of 16, Chinnyere has fully immersed herself in the industry.
Developing FASCHINN as an extension of herself, McPherson’s goal is to maintain the significance of craftsmanship and authenticity in this big world of fashion.
Music: Rising Appalachia
As world travelers for nearly two decades, Rising Appalachia have merged multiple global music influences with their own southern. Remarkably the band has built its legion of listeners independently -- a self-made success story that has led to major festival appearances and sold-out shows at venues across the country.
Founded by sisters Leah and Chloe Smith, the band established an international fan base due to relentless touring, tireless activism, and no small degree of stubborn independence.
Major support for this project from the following funders:
Marion and Maximillan Hoffman Foundation
