PENELOPE
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY ALEX BECHTEL
BOOK BY ALEX BECHTEL, GRACE MCLEAN, AND EVA STEINMETZ
"I could wait for you forever, If you told me what forever was for.”
JULY 12 - AUGUST 17, 2024
The Odyssey is an epic poem by Homer. Originally composed around the 8th century BC, it tells the story of Odysseus as he works his way home to Ithaca after fighting in the Trojan War. His journey takes ten years — the same amount of time the war lasted. This means that Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, has waited twenty years for his return. Penelope imagines this story from her point of view. It is a musical love letter to all those who wait: For someone they love. For something they believe in. And hope that the wait will end well. An intimate and explosive music theater piece, Penelope invites the audience to join in a ritual act of storytelling to release the pent-up grief, anger, love and longing that are so familiar after the last three years.
Alex Bechtel is a Philadelphia-based artist dedicated to the creation of new works of music, theatre, and musical theatre. His work investigates the collision of experimental/devised theatre with traditional musical theatre. He is a company member of Lightning Rod Special, for which he composed music & lyrics for the 2019 musical THE APPOINTMENT (accelerated by the Orchard Project, 2017), served as Lead Artist/Director/Composer for the 2020 Quarantine Audio project SUPERHOST (also developed in part OP's Liveness Lab), and has been either performer or sound designer for most other LRS projects. As a composer/sound designer, Bechtel's other collaborators include Anisa George (HOLDEN), The Arden Theatre Company (THE LIGHT PRINCESS, MIDSUMMER, TREASURE ISLAND), People's Light & Theatre Co. (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE: THE PLAY), and Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival (5 Seasons of new music for the plays of Shakespeare). Bechtel is the recipient of 3 Barrymore Awards, and an Independence Fellow in the Arts. He is the creator/composer of THE WEST, PHILADELPHIA NOCTURNE, CHEER UP DOSTOEVSKY, and PENELOPE.
