OFFSTAGE ONSTAGE to Premiere at Cannonball Festival in Philadelphia

Offstage Onstage will be presented at Cannonball Festival at Asian Arts Initiative Black Box Theater (1219 Vine St) for five performances only. Performances will run September 8-25.

If PEN15 and The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) had a baby about Greek tragedy. For the first time ever at Haverford Middle School, three students interrogate all of the action that traditionally took place offstage in Ancient Greek tragedy: Oedipus stabbing his eyes out after hearing the truth that he murdered his father and married his mother, Medea killing her children to get revenge on her husband Jason, and the women of Thebes tearing Pentheus apart after being driven mad by Dionysus.

The young theatre historians hop in and out of the different characters and stories of the Greeks to win the praise of their English teacher–Mr. Moscow. As they delve deeper and deeper into exploring these unthinkable acts, however, they confront the challenges of their own lives in and outside of school - fashion malfunctions, bullying, and, at its worst, the fear of gun violence. True to the little ghost party form, much of the play is performed on a tiny stage.