Local student works with playwright to hone script

A group of 16 Muhlenberg College students, including Kyle Barkis of Macungie, had a rare opportunity in January to work with an established playwright to hone and develop a new script.

Jess Shoemaker was in residence at Muhlenberg, workshopping a new version of her play “(&Medea)” with director Jamie McKittrick and a company of 16 actors. The process culminated in a public staged reading of the new work, Jan. 27-29.

McKittrick, a visiting assistant professor with Muhlenberg’s Theatre & Dance Department, says the play is a sort of prequel to Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy — one of the most frequently produced plays of the ancient dramatic repertoire, and one not typically characterized as a love story.

In Euripides’ version, first produced in 431 BCE, the sorceress Medea helps the hero Jason on his quest to recover the Golden Fleece, then marries him and bears their two sons. When he betrays her to marry a princess, Medea takes revenge by killing their children.

Shoemaker’s play depicts what happens before the tragedy strikes: the love story between her and Jason.

Based on an idea by director Arlo Howard, the play has been in development for more than a decade. An earlier version, titled “Jason and (Medea),” was performed in 2013 at Chicago’s (re)discover theatre, and in 2015 at the Hollywood Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for an award for Best Ensemble Theatre Production. Shoemaker felt it was time to revisit the piece, and when McKittrick started putting out feelers for a new-play development project, Shoemaker jumped at the opportunity.

Shoemaker brings a distinctly modern sensibility to this ancient tale, using colloquial language and quick-witted humor. Pop songs underscore the characters’ sense of longing.