Employing non-traditional casting in terms of gender, ethnicity, and disability, the play is a bold reimagining of Sophocles’s Philoctetes set in a Hunger Games-inspired dystopia.
Odysseus orders young Neoptolemus, daughter of Achilles, to trick Philoctetes into joining the Greeks to assure their victory in the Trojan War. Philoctetes was entrusted with Hercules’ bow upon the demigod’s death. The Greeks, who abandoned the snake-bitten Philoctetes on the island of Lemnos ten years earlier, return now in need of him and the divine bow to win the Trojan War. The play explores questions of loss, betrayal, loyalty, and whether the ends always justify the means.
Since co-founding Griot Theatre in 2011, Artistic Director Malik B. El-Amin has pushed the company’s mission, finding not just roles but entire productions that could feature female artists, artists of color, and artists with physical disabilities while using what some would call creative casting as an opportunity to redefine the classics and local theater in general. “In our production, not only is Neoptolemus a woman, rather than a man, but the actress also uses a wheelchair. Audiences will witness how casting skilled artists with disabilities broadens, rather than shrinks the creative possibilities of a given play,” said Malik B. El-Amin.
Performances will take place Friday, April 15, 2016, at 8:00pm, Saturday, April 16, 2016, at 3:00pm and 8:00pm, and Sunday, April 17, 2016, at 3:00pm. The performance on April 16 at 3:00pm will be an ASL interpreted show with a Q&A at the end. All shows will be open captioned. Tickets are $7 and are available by calling 310–440–7300 or online at the Getty Villa Theater Lab.
After being work-shopped at the Getty Villa, The Archer from Malis will go on to a fully staged production at the Lounge Theaters from April 29–May 22.
About Griot Theatre
Everyone has a story to tell. That’s what we do in theatre. Yet women, artists of color, and artists with physical disabilities have been left out of the conversation—their voices unheard—in traditional theatre.
We believe that theater performs two functions: it reminds us who we’ve been, and it teaches us who we have the potential to become. When our stories lack diversity, our past remains deficient, and our future less bright. Griot Theatre exists to give voice to these untold stories, by creating a forum for artists from underrepresented groups to interpret theater in new ways.
Malik B. El-Amin is the Artistic Director of Griot Theatre, which he co-founded to create a forum for artists from underrepresented groups to interpret theatre in new ways. Malik holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, an MFA in Theatre Arts from Brandeis University, and is currently pursuing an MBA in Nonprofit Management from the American Jewish University. He is a member of the Actors Equity Association (AEA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA). When not conspiring to commit theater, Malik volunteers with the Los Angeles chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America, is a regular blood donor with the American Red Cross, and works as a Senior Manager at Farmers Insurance, where he holds the designation of Project Management Professional (PMP). Mr. El-Amin is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.