TOXIKOS

(based on Philoctetes by Sophocles. and Britney Spears.)
REDCAT New Original Works Festival | Aug 8, 9 & 10, 2013

Adapted and Directed by Deena Selenow

Music Composition and Arrangement | Paul Fraser
Choreography | Genevieve Gearhart and Deena Selenow

Costume and Scenic Design | Vincent Richards
Serpent Design | Leah N. Olbrich
Lighting Design | Tony Shayne

featuring A'Raelle Flynn-Bolden, Brittany Lau, Katie McKewin, Elisa Rosin, Bianca Ruiz-Brockl, Kelsey Springsted

… and the Toxic Band: Matthew Bamberg-Johnson, Will Cotter, Paul Fraser, Emma Green, Zan Headley, Paul Matthis

TOXIKOS is an audience-participatory adventure, interweaving Sophocles’ Philoctetes with original music deconstructed from Britney Spears' Toxic. The bizarre form that erupts smashes open new windows for a contemporary audience to access the ancient Greek text, as the all-female chorus dives headfirst into one of the only Greek plays completely devoid of women. 
Kazoos provided. No kazoo-playing experience necessary.

“Toxikos” simply resembled theater at its best. - Living Out Loud Los Angeles

A grand romp of innuendo and messy unabashedness.. This raw performance made Philoctetes the stuff of everyday entertainment, and it brought fun back into the form of the classical Greek play. - The Local Looking Glass

Deena's First Person article in LA Stage Times

LA Weekly Article: REDCAT's New Original Works Festival Shows How Visual Innovation Can Make Theater More Relevant

About REDCAT NOW Festival: 

"The New Original Works Festival is a three-week interdisciplinary program of a variety of short works and some longer projects in their Los Angeles premieres.. Los Angeles-based projects are selected through a proposal process by a panel of arts professionals, with an emphasis on new projects in development and/or early career artists."