95 Empire St
Providence,RI 02903
USA
The AntiGravity Theatre Project presents Yermedea RAW by Erik Ehn, a hybrid
puppet and theatre performance braiding the tragic experiences of Euripides’ Medea and Lorca’s
Yerma into a single narrative. The AntiGravity Theatre Project will produce the three-venue tour that
will Explore, Explode, & EXPOSE our genocides.
EXPLORE: Set in Central America, the play draws inspiration from the horrors of the civil war in El
Salvador. The decade-long armed conflict between the military-led government (backed by the United
States) and the FMLN (a coalition of left-wing guerrilla groups) left the country and its indigenous
population in ruins. Centuries of exploitation have depleted the region of its richest resources,
including the mental, spiritual, and psychological life of its people.
EXPLODE: Loosely based on the two literary figures Yerma and Medea, one of whom can’t have
children and the other of whom is driven to kill her own, the audience, along with the Nurse and the
Bus Driver, are led through a labyrinth of repeating events in what appears to be a waking dream.
Yermedea RAW explores the disturbing social and psychological effect on life lived in the midst of
genocide, incorporating the ephemeral materials of theatre – sound, light, space, time, movement,
gesture, and image – to convey that which cannot be expressed otherwise. Playwright Erik Ehn
explains that, “We believe the people have a strong, strong voice, but people aren’t listening; we don’t
want to speak for them, we want to stand with them.”
EXPOSE: Director Kym Moore and acclaimed Spanish puppet theatre artist Alejandra Prieto join
forces to bring Erik Ehn’s Yermedea to life in RAW form. The play will tour three venues starting in
October with performances at the 95 Empire Black Box Theater in Providence from October 11 th-14th,
the Factory Theatre in Boston from October 27th-28th, and La Mama Experimental Theatre Club in New
York City on November 11th and 17th as part of Ehn’s commemorative play-cycle Soulographie: Our
Genocides.
In addition to touring, Yermedea RAW will teach free workshops in Providence Public Schools,
community organizations and 95 Empire’s School@95. Using applied theatre to actively engage
participants in the history of genocide around the world, Yermedea’s education outreach efforts will
engage communities that might not otherwise attend live theatre performances. The AntiGravity
Theatre Project seeks to move its work beyond the stage and into direct dialogue with the public.
Yermedea RAW: explore, Explode, & EXPOSE our genocides.
The AntiGravity Theatre Project is a Providence-based theatre cooperative dedicated to multi-
dimensional, dramaturgically alert, highly visual performance free from sociopolitical confines and the
force of gravity. Founded by Kym Moore and Michael Williams, the collective seeks to produce and
support performance that traverses boundaries and thumps with a beating heart.
http://theantigravityproject.wordpress.com
