Minotaur

MINOTAUR, a new piece for performance by Caridad Svich, stages the final interview of a former revolutionary turned relic — part political icon, part beast — sustained by the wreckage of their own mythmaking. An early workshop sharing on May 2nd, featured Scott Shepherd (Gatz, Wooster Group), testing early ideas for how live performance, digital media, and the language of collapse might intertwine across several excerpts of the play.

What does it mean to kill a legend? Who gets to tell the story of empire’s end? How do bodies persist when history forgets them — and how does power survive inside the machines we leave running? Blending myth and political critique, Minotaur asks what remains after the spectacle dies.

Here is an excerpt from a thoughtful and insightful exploration of the workshop performance, written by Amir Denzel Hall:

In Caridad Svich’s Minotaur, a piece for performance that was broadcast and performed live from CultureHub on May 2nd, Ari and Pen search for the Minotaur to destroy him. The Minotaur’s “last song,” Ari says, must be sung, the planet’s life depends on it. Through a series of the Minotaur’s monologues and interactions with Pen and Ari, the piece explores the nature of empire, sometimes reflecting back or openly critiquing  common themes in the American zeitgeist, like trauma, apathy, and the nature of reality.

Do you know the original legend? The Minotaur was an abomination, the result of a cursed union designed by Poseidon between a bull and a human queen because of the disobedience of her king. For years, the king used the Minotaur, his step-son, to inspire fear in the Athenians, like a nuclear weapon. Theseus, ends up killing the Minotaur in his labyrinth with the help of Ariadne, the Minotaur’s half sibling.  A true family affair.

You can read the full article HERE.

selected photos from rehearsal of MINOTAUR (photo credit: Ji Hoon Kim)

And watch a short (90 seconds) reel from MINOTAUR’s workshop on YouTube HERE.