PREMIERED AT SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL, BLACK POINT BATTERY, FORT MASON, SAN FRANCISCO, CA (2017)
CHOREOGRAPHY:
Amy Lewis
MUSIC:
Agnes Szelag
LYRICS:
Compiled by Amy Lewis from sixteen versions of the Electra myth (see references
below)
DANCERS:
Amelia Bonvento, Katherine House, Joyce Lien Kushner, Mary Katherine
Patterson, Daphne Zneimer
ABOUT
16 Electras began with Lewis’ research for the project My Obsession with Hamletmachine. To increase an understanding of the iconic character Electra and her role within Hamletmachine, Lewis read all of the versions of the Electra myth that were written in or translated into English. Though each version is slightly different, one characteristic remains the same: Electra’s conviction and determination. She holds her her own truth, refuses to change her mind, and stubbornly takes action. Lewis took words or phrases from the sixteen Electras, listed below, to be used as song lyrics that dictated an extremely simplified version of the Electra story. Using Lewis’ lyrics, Agnes Szelag created songs that outline Electra in her many phases: princess, outcast, mourner, coercer, murderess, and criminal. 16 Electras was set at the Black Point Battery artillery site, the home of restored Rodman cannons, a setting which perfectly represented Electra’s wild and violent nature.
REFERENCES
1. Aeschylus. Libation-bearers. Trans. Hugh Lloyd-Jones. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 1988.
2. Alfaro, Luis. “Electricidad.” Trans. Helen E. Moritz. Text and Presentation. Ed. Stratos E. Constantinidis.
Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2007.
3. Euripides. “Electra.” Trans. Elizabeth Wyckoff. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968.
4. Galdós, Benito Pérez. Electra. Charleston: Bibliobazaar, 2008.
5. Giraudoux, Jean. “Electra.” Trans. Phyllis La Sarge. Three Plays. New York: Hill and Wang, 1964.
6. H.D. “A Dead Priestess Speaks”. Collected Poems, 1912-1944. New York: New Directions Books, 1983.
7. Hofmannsthal, Hugo von. Elektra: Tragic Opera in One Act. Music by Richard Strauss. Trans. Charles T. Mason. London: Fürstner Limited, 1909.
8. Kis, Danilo. “Elektra.” Trans. John K. Cox. Night and Fog: The Collected Dramas and Screenplays of Danilo Kis. Budapest: Helena History Press, 2014.
9. Miller, Frank, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jim Novak, et al. Elektra Assassin. New York: Marvel Comics, 2000.
10. O’Neill, Eugene. “Mourning Becomes Electra.” Three Plays. New York: Vintage Books, 1995.
11. Plath, Sylvia. “Electra on Azalea Path”; “Daddy”. The Collected Poems. Cutchogue: Buccaneer Books, 196s0.
12. Pound, Ezra and Rudd Fleming. Elektra. Ed. Richard Reid. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987.
13. Ritsos, Yannis. The New Oresteia. Trans. George Pilitsis and Philip Pastras. New York: Pella Publishing Company, Inc., 1991.
14. Sartre, Jean-Paul. “The Flies.” Trans. I. Abel. No Exit and Three Other Plays. New York: Vintage International, 1989.
15. Sophocles. Electra. Trans. Anne Carson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
16. Yourcenar, Marguerite. “Electra, or the Fall of the Masks.” Trans. Dori Katz. Plays. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1984.
