Review: PERSEPHONE, BABY at New Mexico Actors Lab

We probably all know at least a little of the myth of Persephone and Hades – it’s been explored in countless plays, operas and in the hit musical Hadestown. New Mexico Actors Lab adds one new take on the classic story with the world premiere of Persephone, Baby by Melanie Godsey this October.

The play begins in the land above ground, where Persephone (Baby True) shares a fairly idyllic existence with her mother Demeter (Breshaun-Birene Joyner). The Chorus (Vanessa Rios y Valles) tells of how Persephone came to be, when Zeus (Matt Sanford) would throw lightning bolts in an effort to impress and woo Demeter (he succeeded).

There is foreboding resting on the edge of this scene, as Hades, God of the Underworld (Danielle L. Reddick), has become enamored of Persephone and hatches a plot to draw her to his underworld kingdom. When Persephone finds herself underground, she must rely on the kindness of a dead woman (Karen Gruber Ryan) who warns her to not eat the food Hades has laid out for her – if she eats any of the food she will remain trapped in the underworld forever. Persephone must hope that Demeter will come to her rescue before it’s too late. As the gods of life and death both lay claim to her, Persephone must discover for herself what possible redemption might be found in the land of the dead.

There is excellent ensemble acting all the way around in this production, with a special nod to Baby True for showing great range in a plotline that could easily turn quite one note once she is underground (don’t eat, starve, cry, repeat). Karen Gruber Ryan offers both a sympathetic foil for Persephone, as well as some levity for a very dark situation. Danielle Reddick is both reptilian and threatening at times and definitely brings an air of being misunderstood. It’s kind of like Hades is the unpopular kid in the clique of the Gods, something he very much resents.

Breshaun-Birene Joyner gives Demeter a quiet strength that allows her the ability to stand her ground with the party boy Zeus – Matt Sanford brings much-needed humor to his moments as both Zeus and Hercules. Humor also happens when Vanessa Rios y Valles chimes in to fill in the gaps in the story.

Seeing this production had me wondering, why Persephone? And why in the past decade have we seen so many references to this story particularly? Is it because we’re living in a world where women are becoming more disenfranchised as we watch our rights and autonomy suffer? This play definitely has the feeling of foreshadowing of the future of women. I appreciated that the cast was all female, minus Zeus/Hercules, who for all his strength among gods and men comes across as the weakest link (not the performance, which is great, the character is written to come across as less than the rest).

Persephone, Baby works from the technical side as well, with an interesting two-level set by Emily Rankin and good, contrasting lighting design by Skip Rapoport.

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