The Trojans
Book & Music by Leegrid Stevens
Directed by Eric Paul Vitale
Featuring Erin Treadway
The Trojans is a synthwave musical in which warehouse workers retell the Iliad through the lens of their nostalgic and fantasized memory of high school in the 80s. Using materials available to them in the warehouse, the workers re-enact the story of Heather and her entanglements between two rival high schools, both vying for football supremacy in northern Texas. Heather decides to transfer schools, leading to a series of events which ultimately results in violence spilling out into the classrooms. The play sets the hot-blooded fantasies of youth against the realities of mid-life adulthood.
The Trojans uses cassette tape loops and vintage analog synths to create a weathered, vhs 80s sound that isn’t exactly accurate to actual 80s music but is instead an exaggerated, fantasized version of it. Several of the songs will be played using looped 4-track cassette recorders and 80s soviet synths augmented with various effects pedals.
UPCOMING! Workshop #3
LOADING DOCK THEATRE – May 18-19, 2024
Development History:
HOTEL NEW WORK | Open Studio for Live Arts – February 2015
Hotel New Work allows two companies the chance to open the doors of their rehearsals and invite spectators into the creative process. Theaterlab provides these companies with one week “mini-residencies” to develop a work early in its conception. During the first six days of the residency, the companies receive rehearsal space in Theaterlab’s beautiful white box studios in Midtown Manhattan. On Sunday, Theaterlab will open its doors and guide audiences through the space to view two iterations of both works in progress. Spectators are encouraged to engage in creative conversations, focusing on exploring possibilities for the work’s future. Hotel New Work culminates with a reception and continued creative dialogue.
WORKSHOP THEATER | 8-week writer intensive – Fall 2018
A weekly writer’s group that runs for 8 weeks, with 2 writers, sponsored by Workshop Theater. Each weekly session lasted two hours, with a pair of writers presenting for one hour (including discussion). There were two moderators/facilitators/dramaturges to run the intensive.
LOADING DOCK THEATRE | Workshop #1 – Nov 2022
A semi-staged workshop in the Loading Dock Space.
LOADING DOCK THEATRE | Workshop #2 – Sept 2023
A second semi-staged workshop in the Loading Dock Space