The Psyche Project in The 2009 University Co-op Presents the Cohen New Works Festival
Photo: www.visualistimages.com
Co-Created by Jenny Connell & Marie Brown
In collaboration with the ensemble
Performances: September 10, 11, 12 at 8:00 PM
September 12 at 2:00 PM
Oscar G. Brockett Theatre
Free Admission: With generous support from the University Co-op, this event is free and open to the public.
Media and Resources:
Synopsis: Fast, funny and irreverent, The Psyche Project is an ensemble-generated retelling of the myth of Eros (Cupid) and Psyche, two star-crossed lovers who married in secret, ticked off the Goddess of Love, and went to hell and back to keep their marriage together. Come see what happens when Greek Myth goes modern, hell is a mall, and Eros upgrades from arrows to a semi-automatic.
Jenny Connell is a writer, actor, and teacher. Her plays include Portrait (about painter Alice Neel), Summer People, Fire Escape, Chrysalis, Colony, and, of course, The Psyche Project. She's been a finalist or semi-finalist for BAPF, the Heideman, the O'Neill, and the Women's Playwright Festival, and has been nominated for the Weissberger. Her screenplays include Cinnamon Girl, Unmoored (directed by Marie. Premiered: Dances With Films festival, LA), Painting Alice, The Passenger, and Playing House (currently a candidate for UTFI). Jenny trained and performed as an actor in Chicago at Steppenwolf and Court Theatres, and as a playwright at UT Austin, where she received her M.F.A. in May 2009. She is a member of The Gift Theatre of Chicago, and now lives and teaches in Brooklyn.
Director: Marie Brown in collaboration with the Ensemble
Marie Brown is co-creator and director of The Psyche Project: an interdisciplinary performance ensemble that collaborated to retell the story of Eros and Psyche. Currently entering her 3rd and final year at the University of Texas at Austin working toward her M.F.A. in Directing Theatre, her most recent theatre directing credits include Summer People by Jenny Connell, Split. by Erica Saleh, and Stop Kiss by Diana Son. She is directing the UT Austin spring production of Our Town by Thornton Wilder. Marie is now also directing film, co-directed a short film Unmoored by Jenny Connell and Erica Saleh, with Yari Wolinksy, (produced by Trillium Studios: Screened at the 2009 Dances With Films Festival in Los Angeles, CA and The Woods Hole Film Festival, in Woods Hole, MA.) Her work also includes acting, sound/costume/set design, composition for piano, and photography. Marie currently lives in Austin with her husband, Craig, and their 2-year-old daughter, Morgan.
- Harrison Butler as Eros
- Denise Saenz as Psyche
- Chibbi Orduña as Zephyr
- Tom Truss as Aphrodite
- Smaranda Ciceu as Circe
- Jennifer Ihegword as Persephone/Oracle
- Lily Wolff as Sister 1
- Jena Kirmse as Sister 2
- Shaun Patrick Tubbs as King/Boatman/Zeus/Statue
- Ian Milan & Nicole Barnes as Statues
- Cooper Neely as Ego
- Meg Rushing as Anxiety
- Jessica Webb as Doubt
