The One-Man Odyssey at Greenwich House Theater
The One-Man Odyssey was part two of Matchbook Spark Vol. 2, presented by Mix and Match Productions at The Greenwich House Theater, paired with BLUDLINE: A Hip-Hop Odyssey. Joseph Medeiros performs Book 2 of Homer's Odyssey in Ancient Greek, solo. Matchbook Fest bills itself as a place to see new work in development.
I worked mostly from the back of the house, with room to move along the back wall and down house right. Going down that side put the edge of the stage in frame, the dressing area and a coatrack behind him.
Medeiros plays every character himself. Aegyptius with a staff, then straight out to the audience a beat later, and the switches came fast.
Props and costume did most of that work. A staff, a chest, a rhinestone headband reading ATHENA, a red jersey reading TELEMACHUS.
From the back of the house, anything wide picked up heads in the foreground, so I worked with the sightlines the room gave me instead of the ones I'd have picked. At one point he came off the stage and into the audience.
The watermelon came out partway through. By the time he was on his knees squeezing it over himself and the stage in a shirt that read ANOTHER ONE OF THE SUITORS, the show was a long way from what most people picture when they hear Homer.
The one raised platform put him above the audience. It was the only point in the night with nothing between him and the lens.
For work still in development, the photos are what everyone who wasn't in the room ends up seeing. Grant panels and presenting partners don't get to attend. They see whatever was captured, and that becomes the record of where the piece was at this stage.
If you're developing new work and need it documented, get in touch here.
