Persephone has been taken underground and her Mother Demeter is determined to get her back even if she kills the world to do so. In this contemporary retelling of the Greek myth, families are complicated, daughters are difficult and Mothers have to let go. Add Cassandra to the mix - who doesn’t know what epoch she is in but knows for sure the environment is in a dire state - and even the Chorus is exhausted. However, they rally with advice for managing the darkness and a vision for the future – for all of us.

SYNOPSIS:

SYNPOSIS

After an argument with her mother Demeter, sassy teenager Persephone is abducted by Hades. Demeter, her sister Hestia and the mortal Queen Metanira realize that the love of a mother has no bounds and in spite of pleas to take care of the earth which in her grief she has abandoned, Demeter swears to let it die if that’s what it takes to get Persephone back.

Throughout the 4year story, the Chorus (cloaked/masked women) address the ‘audience’ directly in poetic terms, painting a grim picture of what’s happening with haunting evocations of worsening destruction - drought, fire and famine - as the mortals die.

In the Underworld, Persephone has Hades’ number even as he assures her he’ll never hurt her but she cannot go back even to see her Mother. Zeus, Persephone’s father and King of the Gods, demands that Demeter stop the killing but when his wife Hera appears, he is caught between angry, powerful women who don’t accept his excuse that he was saving Persephone from his well-known ‘tendencies’. They remind him that as Gods they have to care for the mortals and to take responsibility for his part in this. Cassandra appears to urge Zeus to grow up.

Persephone meets Chiron at the River Styx, showing capacity for kindness and openess, also that she and Hades have developed a good relationship as she convinces Hades to create an Underworld garden.

The Chorus debate the definition of tragedy and Cassandra pops in pointing out if people are afraid to face the truth there’s nothing you can do even as she acknowledges that she doesn’t know where she is and is mad. The Chorus note that she has a good track record of forecasting the future.

Zeus finally meets with Hades and convinces him to return Persephone saying he has a plan for her to spend time both with her Mother and Hades. To his surprise Hades says he will talk it over with Persephone.

Demeter tells Persephone the truth of her traumatic experiences with men and Zeus’ part in the abduction. Persephone chooses to be Queen of the Underworld where she is equal with Hades, as well as on earth helping her Mother. Demeter accepts that she has to let go of her daughter. The Chorus complete the story with advice for managing despair and a vision of the future for all of us