Medea is a borderless Tekhne Epic for live audiences in person and online conceived by La MaMa's Great Jones Repertory Company, CultureHub and Zishan Ugurlu. The epic tells the story of Medea, a refugee whose reality is shattered when she learns of her and her children's looming exile, investigating parallels between the myth and the current refugee crisis by collaging real stories, ancient tongues and hackable audiovisual systems.
A major part of the production is a reimagining of La MaMa’s Medea which was originally composed by the late Elizabeth Swados with direction by Andrei Serban for the company’s celebrated 1972 presentation. The work is experienced in three parts, and the stark, embodied performance is counterpoint to the rich media and technology landscape.
Presented in La MaMa’s recently-renovated 74A E. 4 St. building, Medea unfolds across 3 floors and leverages the building-wide data network to break past the walls of the theatre. Using custom-built interactive technologies, an online audience will affect audio, video and lighting elements throughout the show. The in-person and online versions follow the same story but are distinctly different iterations that allow audiences to attend both experiences for a deeper look into the world of the production.
