Obskene

Buy Tickets

$20.00 General; $15.00 Student/Senior

About This Show

Talking Band, the award-winning experimental theater company, is proud to present OBSKENE, a new play conceived and directed by Tina Shepard, written in concert with eight playwrights, including fellow Talking Band founders Ellen Maddow and Paul Zimet, as well as acclaimed playwrights Marcus Gardley, David Greenspan, Sidney Goldfarb, John Jesurun, Deb Margolin and Lizzie Olesker.

“Obskene” is the Greek term for “off-stage” and is the basis for the word “obscene”: it refers to the horrendous and unseen acts of violence that happen off-stage but are never depicted in Greek tragic plays.

OBSKENE utilizes both messenger speeches of classical Greek Tragedy (newly adapted by Sidney Goldfarb and Lizzie Olesker) and reports from the near future in a variety of styles creating a multi-layered narrative. The Talking Band has commissioned a diverse group of award-winning playwrights to write contemporary “messenger” speeches. The Greek messenger speeches contain some of the most disturbing images in the entirety of theater history, but they also vividly capture the humor, passion and humanity of their subjects. Similarly the contemporary reports imagine the harrowing, comic, and heartbreaking aspects of our lives in the years to come.

Show Details

Dates: First Preview: November 1, 2012 Opening Night: November 3, 2012 Final Performance: November 17, 2012

You Might Also Like

Macbeth

Performances begin: April 20, 2024

Mid Life Mood Swing

One Night Only: April 19, 2024

Cowboy

Performances begin: May 25, 2024

Invasive Species

Performances begin: May 7, 2024

Scarlett Dreams

Final performance: May 26, 2024