Polaroid Stories is a
dramatic adaptation of
Ovid's
Metamorphoses in two acts.
The
myths of
Echo and
Narcissus,
Orpheus and
Eurydice,
Philomel and
Tereus,
Hades and
Persephone, and
Zeus,
Semele, and
Dionysus are woven with themes from life on the streets in the late 90s. In
Polaroid Stories, Narcissus is a
self-destructive raver who sells his body, Echo is a
runaway girl who ultimately finds her voice, and Eurydice is fleeing the
abusive and
murderous Orpheus (who assumes the role of Tereus, cutting out the tongue of Philomel.) The character
G, alternately Zeus and Hades, helps Eurydice find the strenght to kill Orpheus. Persephone (who, in flashbacks, is Semele, a
crack-
addict) develops a relationship with Orpheus that echoes his relationship with Eurydice and ends when he stabs her with a broken bottle.
D (Dionysus) is a drug dealer who gets ripped off by
speedracer, aka
SkinheadBoy, aka the
Lydian Sailor, aka
oklahoma boy, aka
Hyacinthus, aka
Theseus, a speed addict lost in a labyrinth. oklahoma boy's companion is
SkinheadGirl, aka
neon girl, aka
Ariadne, who is lost in the labyrinth as well, eventually gets lost for good and turns into a star. It's a complex and at times confusing play, but is very moving.
Written by
Naomi Iizuka, the play is quite possibly her greatest work to date.
Polaroid Stories was commissioned by En Garde Arts in New York and was first produced as part of the
Humana Festival of New Plays at the Actors Theatre of
Louisville. It recieved the 1998
PEN Center USA West Award for
Drama (an award given for outstanding work by living
playwrights.)
Polaroid Stories consists of two acts:
fucked up love songs and
polaroid stories.
One of my favorite monologues from the second act is from the scene titled
The Story of Pygmalion and Galatea, in which G watches Eurydice leave the Underworld.
G: story of a girl i used to know
story of a girl who turned into an echo
story of a girl who turned into a shooting star
story of a girl who crossed the river of forgetting
story of a girl i used to know
story of a girl who almost died
story of a girl who came out on the other side
story of a girl i used to know
story of a girl who walked away
story of a girl who got out
story of a girl who walked away, and never looked back
and how she changed into something else
and how the old scars, how they grew new, smooth skin--
I highly recommend it, for what that's worth.