PROMETHEUS/REDUX, an original play by Gerard Stropnicky, will premier at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts as part of Touchstone Theatre's 'Festival Unbound'.
The play will run October 4 through 6, 2019 on the campus located at 321 E. Third Street, Bethlehem, PA, to acknowledge the 20th anniversary of the shutting down of Bethlehem Steel Corporation and to celebrate two decades of community recovery.
Tickets are $25, for adults and $15 for students, seniors, and steelworkers. "Pay what you will" tickets are also available.
LVSTAGE: How have you conceived and built 'Prometheus Redux' so that it reaches those who never worked at the Steel, who didn't live here in those long-gone days, who don't have personal ties to that industry or era' What gives this production its own heft and significance'
GERARD STROPNICKY: PROMETHEUS / REDUX looks back, but it doesn't stay there. STEEL BOUND was powerfully of a very specific moment, made at a time when the wounds from the painful closing of the Steel were deep and fresh. It was a community-wide celebration and, if you will, a ceremonial funeral for an industry. It was huge, epic, astonishing. It was cathartic.
Twenty years later, where have we come' Where do we work now' How are we doing' When we look back, what do we see, what stories do we remember' How do we define ourselves now' Can we imagine a future' What might that look like'
What this play shares with the previous play is process: Both were built from listening to the stories of the people of this place.Listening to stories of former Steelworkers, but also to those of their kids and grandkids. The circles opened up, and we sat with community leaders, activists, city council member, social service providers, formerly homeless people.
Both involved checking back with those who offered their stories, to see if we were serving them in the ways they would want. The process was intentional at each step, so that the work might be authentic and reflect the Agency of the community.
We asked hard questions. We heard hard answers. We also heard stories of joy, hope, laughter.
The play picks up on the character of Prometheus twenty years later. It moves from a past of "building things" to a present of "re-building one another."
No, it doesn't require a personal tie to the steel industry. It doesn't require a prior knowledge of STEELBOUND, though, like in a Marvel Superhero movie, there are some "easter eggs" for those with prior knowledge. Those without such knowledge really don't miss anything.
PROMETHEUS /REDUX stands on its own. It's provocative and human. This play is of this moment, this time.
Even the cast and production team reflect the community.
It wasn't easy, and there isn't always agreement. We find a way forward.
I hope PROMETHEUS / REDUX has heft and substance. That'll be for others to decide.
LVSTAGE: In that same vein, how can you ever capture the atmosphere of this material to the almost magical measure you reached with 'Steelbound', playing through heavy downpours of rain, amidst thunder and lightning storms' How environmentally compelling is this newer production'
GERARD STROPNICKY: I experienced STEELBOUND on that stormy night. Not sure we can expect to match the coincidental power of the divine.
PROMETHEUS / REDUX will be performed in the Charter Arts High School, a much more traditional theatre venue. There will be an optional processional opening that will begin on the corner looking over the site where STEELBOUND happened.
For information and tickets, please contact Touchstone Theatre at www.festivalunbound.com or call 610-867-1689.