TRAPped (Medea, 2016)
Panoply Lab, NYC. May 2016
Photo courtesy of: Esther Neff
CHORUS
Since you have shared your plans with me, I urge you
not to do this. I want to help you,
holding to the standards of human law.
MEDEA
In this matter, there is no choice. I forgive
what you just said, for, unlike me,
you do not have to bear this
suffering.
Responding to the so called T.R.A.P. (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) laws approved by over 20 States in the USA,
TRAPped (Medea, 2016) attempts to open the Pandora vase on the traumas of unwanted motherhood and the stigma it still carries in contemporary society. In its fragmented anthology of abortion stories interspersed with excerpts from the proto-feminist ancient Greek tragedy Medea by Euripides, it merges biographical performance, psychodrama, participatory ritual and performance art creating a collective exorcism in which shame and guilt are purged.
The piece was presented at Brooklyn's Panoply Lab as part of the ongoing performance series TRAUMA SALON in May 2016.
Curated by Valerie Kuehne.
Thanks to Esther Neff and Panoply Lab: www.panoplylab.org