Alcestis Ascending

Cuban National Office of Scenic Arts (El Consejo Nacional de Artes Escenicas, CNAE), The University of Alabama and Company HavanaBama will present the World Premiere of Alcestis Ascending, a bilingual new play with music based on Euripides’ classic drama. Written and directed by Seth Panitch, this unprecedented production combines actors and dancers from the Cuban National Office of Scenic Arts as well as American actors.

Through text, movement, and live rock-infused music, Alcestis Ascending spins a thrilling tale of fate, self-absorption, sacrifice, and the redemptive power of love. King Admetus and his wife Alcestis see their picture-perfect lives shatter when news arrives that Admetus’ thread has run out on the wheel of Fate. If the King can find a willing replacement to take his place, he lives; if not, he dies. Admetus’ initial relief gives way to terror as, one by one, every option fails. The veneer of his life strips away, revealing the tenuous, conditional “love” around him, and the seething cowardice within – a narcissism so powerful, he doesn’t blink when Alcestis offers to take his place.