When audience members come to see the world premiere of The Janeiad at Alley Theatre this week, they’ll be seeing a commissioned work sparked by a woman whose husband died in 9/11.
Playwright Anna Ziegler who was awarded that commission has intertwined the tale of a widow 20 years after 9/11 who is still desperately missing her husband with Homer’s Penelope who waited 20 years for her husband Odysseus to return from the Trojan War and his lengthy journey back that followed.
Alley Artistic Director Rob Melrose who is directing the Alley production says this play is unlike the handful of plays produced right after 9/11 — most of them concerned with the immediate experience of what happened on the day of the terrorist attack. “Then nothing for a long time.”
“What I love about it is Anna kind of dives into Greek myth with the story of Penelope and Odysseus and when we think about our contemporary lives there isn’t a lot that’s mythic or epic about our day to day lives but 9/11 is certainly, at least in my lifetime, the most significant, kind of epic, shocking experience. I think she really creates a new story.
“It isn’t what about happened right after 9/11. It does lean a lot on 9/11. It leans a lot on The Odyssey in a lot of ways it’s a deep exploration of life and love and romance and losing your life partner. And desiring him back. And there’s a lot of humor. And there’s a lot of love in the play. It’s not a crisis play. I think those plays from 20 years ago was more crisis plays.”
And for those puzzling over the unusual title, Melrose says “iad” is the ending attached to names to say “the epic of. Anna is kind of having a little fun by taking the most ordinary name you can think of. She’s saying, but her story is actually epic worthy. Her life is worthy of an epic.”
The one act stars Jenn Harris (film: American Fiction) as Jane, Miriam A. Laube (Broadway: Bombay Dreams) as Penelope and David Matranga (last seen in the Alley’s Amerikin) as Gabe.
“It starts with Penelope. The play really treats the 20-year span of time from 9/11 to the 20th anniversary and Jane’s life but it’s kind of told in a kind of dream logic so it jumps around through time.. Penelope is kind of a helper and a life coach for Jane,” Melrose says, “In the dream logic of the play it seems like the actress playing Penelope is also playing eight different characters from Jane’s life”.
The Janeiad is another full production of a play workshopped in the Alley’s New Play Festival, something that has been very successful in developing new works. “On some level we already know [The Janeiad is] a success because six months after we announced we’re doing it, the Old Globe announced it’s going to do it.
“I have a very hard time imagining a world this doesn’t go to New York in some form. As much as it will mean to us here in Houston, I just feel like it will mean all that much more to New York. The whole play takes place in Brooklyn,” he says.
“I feel really lucky at the Alley because our audiences show up in such force for our murder mysteries and Christmas Carol and Noises Off that it takes a lot of the box office pressure off of those plays in the Neuhaus. So that really allows us to take some risks. That’s why we’re able to do what we do. It really puts us on the map nationally to have world premieres that go on to other theaters.”
[This year’s All New Festival running from October 25-27 will include readings of Wolfie by Sharr White (Pictures From Home) about a couple of Manhattan transplants whose dog Wolfie has a run-in with the one percenters downstairs, Uhuru by Gloria Majule about a Tanzanian-only group attempting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Zero Hour by Tea Alagic in which a woman explores her relationship with her mother during the civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and The Alley by comfort ifeoma katchy about a family in Houston’s Third Ward.]
Despite its subject matter, there is a lot of humor in the 90 minutes of The Janeiad he says. And it’s beautiful writing, he says, pointing out that Ziegler was a poet before she was a playwright.
“Anna has a terrific sense of humor. It’ll surprise people. It’s very, very funny and it’s super romantic. If you’ve ever had a love of your life or like me, lucky enough to be married to a love of your life, this play will mean something to you because it really is about the beauty of a deep, deep love that not only goes throughout someone’s life but actually, goes beyond life into death. How love endures. It’s more of a romance than it is a 911 play. But I think you’ve got to come see it to realize that.”
Performances are scheduled for October 11 through November 3 at 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays through Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays, and Sundays and 7 p.m. Sundays at Alley Theatre, 615 Texas. For more information, call 713-220-5700 or visit alleytheatre.org. $58-$80.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
