Excerpt from a non-myth play, Skool Daze, what I call Liz Rant.

During a faculty workshop on intruder preparedness, a goodie two shoes teacher, Kendra, and her edgier colleague, Liz, mix it up , but basically Liz just rashes on K.

Enjoy. It's a teacher thing?

For those who need to binge and are not content to listen to The Song of Orpheus in installments, we’ve added a podcast of the full play, shortened by some aggressive editing, especially of Orpheus’s damned rhyming! 

So, binge away if so moved!

MC

In this episode, Act IV of The Song of Orpheus, we leave the kingdom of Hades for the upper airs, but there is much unfinished business still to sort out. 

In answer to your questions - no, Orpheus does not try a third time to bring back his beloved Eurydice. That door has closed. 

And yes, Virginia, it is true, Orpheus is a hot mess without the love of his life, and yet, despite his sad disarray, a cult organically develops around him and his music. Understandably, this does not sit well with some of the Olympian gods because it detracts from their respective cults of worship. They work a solution, or rather Dionysus enlists the unpredictable maenads of Thrace to work a solution, which has a strange sort of success. 

No, Orpheus is not deified like Hercules, although his lyre does become a constellation. 

And also no, there are no bootleg mixtapes of Pyramus or any other of Orpheus' sublime music. Nor any other merch for that matter lol!

And yet, despite a lack of technology and social media, his legend has endured. How can this be?

Keep puzzling this, and in the meantime, enjoy and embrace the strangeness that is the conclusion to The Song of Orpheus. 

*Credit for original background music to Steve Hayden et al. for the hair raising exchanges between the fanboys in Thrace and on Lesbos. 

Like the previous episode of Act II, this episode, Act III of The Song of Orpheus has entertainment aplenty, but of a different sort, as the scene shifts from mortal Thrace to immortal Hades.

Here of course there are many of the characters you’ve come to know and love down below: the Dark Lord himself and his consort, Persephone, Cerberus the three-headed hound, Charon the boatman, the Three Judges in Hades, the Furies and then of course Orpheus himself who has somehow made it there as a mortal, coming for the shade of Eurydice to bring her back again to the upper airs. After charming everyone in the Underworld including Hades himself, Orpheus, and by extension, Eurydice are given a second chance, but with certain stipulations.

No real spoiler alert again as many of you know that unfortunately, tragedy strikes again. Arguably this episode is more tragi- than comedy, alas, but of course in an MC Mythol OG production, there some light moments piercing through the dark Underworld.

You may have some questions that need enlightening. Does Orpheus try to bring Eurydice back another time? Does Hades relent on the terms of the deal, especially given Persephone’s advocacy for the handsome musicus? If not, what happens to Orpheus after his stint in the Underworld? What happens to him after the irrevocable loss of his soulmate, Eurydice?

Surely there is more. Indeed, there is, and it bears knowing, but I’m getting ahead of myself (heh-heh). That will all be revealed in Act IV where things get even curiouser and curiouser -as if a wedding day snakebite fatality and an attempt to rescue a loved one from Hades weren’t curious enough!

In the interim, enjoy and embrace the strange in Act III of The Song of Orpheus.

In this episode, Act II of The Song of Orpheus, there is much ado - dancing and music, salty musicians, one with an unexpected Liverpudlian accent, a couple of dancers who seem to have left their virtue and veils at home, an impertinent attendant or two, not to mention, most importantly, the exceedingly stressed (due to a premonition of disaster) father of Orpheus and his invaluable aide overseeing Orpheus's wedding to the beloved Eurydice.

Despite the joy and happiness of the blessed event, tragedy (no spoiler alert here as you probably know this part of the story) strikes suddenly to take Eury away from Orpheus for the first, but (as you probably also well know ), assuredly, not the last time.

Tragicomedy indeed.

In this first episode of the Song of Orpheus, two very, if not excessively, devoted fans, old Lucius and younger Melanippus, attend an outdoor concert where the legendary Orpheus musicus plays his magic and, more importantly, meets the Eurydice of his dreams.

In this brief exchange from a musical that should never be produced, imagine a pair of old dudes, kind of like the critics on the Muppets but not so much, asking about the status of another one of their brethren?

It opens with ole Billy caning up to his good friend, Ebeneezer, who gives him the lowdown on the eponymous OWD.

In this episode, the short comedy, an Apocalyptic Apotheosis, better known as the Herc play, our beloved Olympians, upon the news of Hercules’s incineration, have a spirited conversation about the pluses and minuses of Zeus’s desire to grant his son, not by Hera,  immortality. This could include a throne on Olympus and that unnerves many, as it would upset the divine status quo. But as always, this Olympian discussion quickly devolves into accusations, mostly by the gods, of excessive meddling by Hera during Herc’s 12 labors. Typical phallocratic pack behavior! How will Hera defend herself against these trumped up charges? What was the nature of her meddling in the first place? Is there any justification for these accusations? Once the dust has settled, does Herc actually get deified and become a god? Stay tuned for the resolution of those burning questions and also, arguably, of even more important questions herein - will Hephaestus ever get a clue? what are pants? and, what, pray tell, is a porter?   

Now, before you dive into the play itself, there is a brief introduction and then you will hear the cast introduce themselves, in their own words yet not in any particular order.

As always, embrace the random and unexpected and, specifically in this case [heh-heh, case one good trial deserves another], the dysfunctional and dystractible.

Three revealing bloopers from Herc Play, with short set-ups to scenes.

In these three outtakes the cast is showing signs of Zoom fatigue and testiness. Hermes (Alex Roman) improves on the text itself; Athena (Michaela Downey) lets loose a Greek lapsus linguae; and the extended version of the Hephaestus's (Zack Garrity) epic struggle with Eurystheus.