adapted & directed by Nancy Keystone                                           created in collaboration with the company

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Shining new light on the ancient story of a wife who sacrifices herself to save her husband's life, ALCESTIS is a thrillingly theatrical retelling of the myth inspired by Euripides' play, and a visceral meditation on its contemporary themes: love, death, marriage, sacrifice, and the overpowering will to live.  A melding of text, choreography, music and projections, it is a provocative and moving experience that is by turns sexy, grotesque, farcical, and profound.

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Named one of 2013's "10 Best Plays" by the LA Weekly, and "2013 Theatre Highlights" by LA Stage Times.  Won "Best Adaptation" awards from LA Weekly, LA Drama Critics Circle, and Arts In LA, and was nominated for 5 other LA Weekly awards (direction, sound design, original score, production design, choreography).

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"A synoptic mélange of pure kinetic and verbal expression…'Alcestis' is certainly impressive." 

--David C. Nichols, LOS ANGELES TIMES

 

"…among the highlights of the current local season… Keystone's staging is a kind of marvel — workshop-simple and yet elegant. The adaptation she's concocted is explicitly about the lives we lead today, but without any winking glibness. It arouses more smiles than laughs, because the company's investigation of what it means to be alive, and the shadows that impede that life, are so thoughtful and tender."     --Steven Leigh Morris, LA WEEKLY

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"…completely involving, scintillating take on Euripides for our time… The performances are emotionally pointed and rich, as legendary figures’ old sorrows and new resentments make themselves felt across the centuries and across these footlights."    --Bob Verini, ARTS IN LA

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"…substantive, arrestingly physical…effective blend of the mundane, the ridiculous and the tragic…audiences should expect the wit, visceral power and uncomfortable truth that shape this original theater piece to remain with them for some time to come."   --Lynne Heffley, GLENDALE NEWS PRESS

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"GO!  …a visually inventive and wryly ironic meditation on the bathetic pomp and occasionally incredible circumstance of mortality…metaphysical philosophy, scathing satire and allegorical vaudeville. Throughout it all, a precision ensemble expertly navigates the drama."  --Bill Raden, LA WEEKLY

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"…a remarkable journey…very funny, often deeply insightful, and…rippingly visceral…a theatrical delight.  Keystone’s artful storytelling, which uses dance, music and symbolic gesture, along with considerable humor and occasional side references to the Euripides original to tell a compellingly poetic tale…the sheer simplicity of the setting makes one listen, not only to the words, but to the movements which often speak louder than words …“Alcestis” is funny, wrenching, inventive and deeply felt."    

--Frances Baum Nicholson, STAGE STRUCK