KORE
Written by Gabrielle Orcha
Directed by Jessica Johnson
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SCENE 1: GARDENING
SCENE 2: MEETING HADES
SCENE 3: DEMETER MEETS HECATE
SCENE 4: HADES’ PLACE
SCENE 5: PERSEPHONE MEETS HECATE
SCENE 6: LUNAR ECLIPSE
SCENE 7: DEMETER VISITS HADES
SCENE 8: THREE SEEDS (AND ANOTHER LIFE BEGINS)
Watch the Demeter trailer
Watch the Hades trailer
See what audiences had to say about Kore
LETTER FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT
I wrote the first draft of “Kore,” seven years ago, in my final year of grad school at Naropa University where I was pursuing an MFA in Theatre: Contemporary Performance. I spent weeks researching the myth, living with it, digesting its themes, composting its characters. And then, all of a sudden, on the eve of a playwriting competition deadline, I wrote it all in one fell swoop; I completed the first draft during a focused 18-hour, self-induced, writing marathon.
Naropa University was where my collaborations first began with Katie Jones, now Magnetic’s Artistic Director; for two glorious years we learned, played, and created together in the same MFA cohort. Katie directed a reading of “Kore” and was influential in its development during its first incarnation. More recently, with this fully produced version you are about to see, I had the pleasure of working with director Jessica Johnson. Working with Jess and the Magnetic team has been a playwright's dream. After listening to the first reading with the actors, I realized there were areas of the play that called my attention: I wanted to deepen the Persephone-Demeter and Persephone-Hades relationships, which in turn would give greater dimensionality to the characters. I wanted Hecate to return a third time and have an instrumental role in Persephone's climactic life decision. Lastly, in the previous version, because Persephone's critical decision came about too quickly, both Jess and I wanted Persephone to journey towards her decision, to truly grapple with her choice.
When working with a theater, sometimes a play can be "workshopped to death"; sometimes a playwright loses her creative control and her voice. My experience with Magnetic has been the complete opposite. Jess invited me to rework the play in all the right, authentic ways; she was an instrumental sounding board, helping determine how to successfully realize the important developments which you will see, and I hope enjoy, this evening.
This play is a contemporary telling of the myth of Persephone. I feel that the myth, the typical and traditional telling, is flat and one dimensional: "Maiden (e.g ‘Kore’ in Greek) wanders from home picking flowers. The ground opens up, and she is abducted by Hades, Lord of the Underworld. Her mother, Demeter, goddess of the earth and vegetation, grieves her absence and longs for her return. Mother searches for daughter but to no avail. Maiden accidentally(?) eats a few seeds; now she must stay in the underworld for a period of time-- and her absence (from her mother) explains the seasons."
Everything about this is so passive-- Persephone is like a leaf floating along the current of these fated events. Everything is happening to her. This (flat) telling of the myth feels like something is missing, feels like the whole story has yet to be told. I am drawn to stories that feel incomplete, that want to be made complete, through deep contemplation and imagination. What if Persephone drives this story? What if she is at the center of the myth and not the periphery? What if she has agency, intuition, and some gall? What if this is an archetypal story of individuation which many young, contemporary women (and men, and non-binary folk) still undergo?
Myths have remained for a reason. I consider it my privilege as a playwright and storyteller to breathe new life into old tales, or rather, listen, gently divine, and dust off what might be the original seeds of humanity, those archetypal threads that weave a shared, resonant story.
May you enjoy this interpretation, and may its themes speak to your own spirit and life experiences.
With warmth,
Gabrielle Orcha
BIOS
Playwright
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Gabrielle Orcha is a playwright, performer, choreographer, and arts entrepreneur. Her plays have won regional and national recognition including a performance at the Kennedy Center. She founded and led a dance theater company for ten years, choreographing performances for off-Broadway, regional theaters, and a national tour. She is a graduate of Boston University’s BFA Theater Arts program as well as Naropa University’s MFA Theatre: Contemporary Performance program. Based in Boston, Gabrielle is currently launching Kindred Art Gallery (kindredartgallery.com) to celebrate the work of underrepresented visual artists. Gabrielle can be found in the theater lobby on Thursday 7/15, Friday 7/16, and Saturday 7/17 evenings; feel free to introduce yourself and share your experience of the play. To connect further with Gabrielle go to gabrielleorcha.com.
CAST
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Heather Nicole Bronson
Heather (Persephone / Hecate) is thrilled to be returning to The Magnetic Theatre and theatre in general! She has been acting in the WNC area since 2015 after graduating from Mars Hill University with a BFA in musical theatre. Previous Magnetic Theatre roles include Dru in something i cared about, Heather in Dry Weather Wind, and Eli in The Misanthrope. Other treasured roles include Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods (Haywood Arts Regional Theatre) and Ruby in Dames at Sea (Mars Hill University). Offstage, Heather enjoys knitting, riding her bike, and petting animals.
Zak Hamrick
Zak (Hades) began acting in 2019, and this will be his tenth performance since. You may have recently seen him with The Magnetic Theatre in Court of the Grandchildren, or in something i cared about! Past credits include work with the Montford Park Players, Nemesis Theatre, and virtually with Different Strokes PAC. He’d like to especially thank director Jess Johnson, playwright Gabrielle Orcha, and the fantastic production team that has done so much to bring this pantheon to life. Much love to his partner Eliza, brother Luke, mother Josephine, and all of the friends, lovers, and enemies that have supported him along the way.
Katie Langwell
Katie’s (Demeter / Hecate) acting credits include: Immediate Theatre Project in Silent Sky, Dead Man’s Cellphone, & On The Verge, with North Carolina Stage Company in A Doll’s House, & with The Magnetic Theatre in The Family Tree. Writer/performer credits include How To: Sketch Comedy Crew (Sublime Theater) and numerous award-winning 48 Hour Films. NYC theatre credits: original Pulitzer Prize winning production of How I Learned To Drive; writer/director/performer with Hits Like a Girl, a women’s sketch comedy troupe; associate artistic director/performer for the critically acclaimed Adobe Theatre Company. Katie teaches French and Drama at Hanger Hall School and her play Rumplestiltskin is currently running at Montford Park as part of Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
PRODUCTION TEAM
ABBY AUMAN (TECH DIRECTOR / LIGHTING & SOUND DESIGNER) - Abby is the Technical Director of The Magnetic Theatre. She also works as a lighting designer in theaters all over WNC.
JESSICA JOHNSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR / DIRECTOR / SCENIC DESIGNER) - Jessica has worked in theatre since the early 2000s, primarily as a stage manager, but also as a director, props and scenic designer, and dramaturg. She has worked locally with Different Strokes Performing Arts Collective, Montford Park Players, Parkway Playhouse, and The Magnetic Theatre. In addition to her behind the scenes theatre work, she has a background in nonprofit development. Jessica serves on the board of Montford Park Players, and is the Executive Director of The Magnetic Theatre.
TYLER JOHNSON (MASTER CARPENTER / SET DESIGNER) - Tyler is a woodworker and furniture designer who moonlights as a set designer. When not figuring out ways to transform spaces, he’s busy taking big pieces of wood, turning them into smaller pieces of wood, then sometimes turning them back into big pieces of wood. You can see some of his work on Instagram at @tothebonewoodworking.
KATIE JONES (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR / DRAMATURG) - Katie is a director, performer, and educator. She has worked with regional theatres in Sarasota, Chicago, and Denver, where she directed community-focused programming. Katie specializes in new play development and is an alumnus of Directors Lab New York and Chicago. She founded Wishbone Theatre Collective in 2009 and continues to perform with them, throughout the country. Katie has a BA from Clemson University and an MFA in from Naropa University. In addition to serving as The Magnetic's Artistic Director, Katie has worked locally with Asheville Creative Arts and the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival.
DAKOTA MANN (STAGE MANAGER) - Dakota Mann has worked both on and off stage throughout the WNC region, working with theatres such as Haywood Regional Arts Theatre, Parkway Playhouse, Anam Cara, The Magnetic Theatre, and the Sublime Theater and Press, as well as performing overseas in Scotland in a devised piece based around John Cage and the students of Black Mountain College in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He recently obtained a B.A. in Drama from the University of North Carolina – Asheville. This is Dakota’s sixth production with The Magnetic Theatre. Previous work includes Assistant Director for Sixteen Years Tried (MPP), Assistant Director / Stage Manager for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (MPP), Stage Manager for In the Middle of Nowhere (The Magnetic), Stage Manager for TRNZ (Sublime), and Stage Manager for Brilliant Traces (35below).
ELIZABETH MOSKOWITZ (DRAMATURG) - Elizabeth is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor practicing in the Boston area. She is a novice dramaturg but a longtime devotee of psychoanalysis, myth, literature, meditation, the numinous, and the Hekatean magickal current. She was trained at the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis and has studied psychodrama as a powerful therapeutic modality.
STEPHANIE NUSBAUM (COSTUME & PROPS DESIGNER) - Stephanie is excited to join the crew of Kore. Her favorite productions she has been a part of include The Legacy of Amelia Aldean (The Magnetic Theatre), Robin Hood (Montford), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Montford), Tempest (Shared Radiance Performing Arts), Serial Killer's Daughter (Shared Radiance Performing Arts), and Shakes Collage (Shared Radiance Performing Arts). She thanks her family and her fiancé for their love and support!
PHOTOS BY CHEYENNE DANCY
GALLERY
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THE MAGNETIC THEATRE STAFF
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR….……. KATIE JONES
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR…… JESSICA JOHNSON
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR….. ABBY AUMAN
BOX OFFICE MANAGER... TIPPIN
MARKETING MANAGER… CHEYENNE DANCY
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
GEORGE AWAD
ELIZABETH MCCORVEY
CARIN METZGER
JASON PHILLIPS
AARON YBARRA
ELIZABETH ZIEGLER