About the Play
Penelope doesn’t recognize her husband when he returns home from twenty years of war and adventure. Or does she? Set in Ancient Greece with modern language, Aline Lathrop’s newest two-person play reimagines Odysseus’ return from Penelope’s point of view. Queen of Ithaca is the story of love and desire, cunning and power, and of a mother who will protect her son at any cost.
The running time of this Zoom reading is two hours, with one five-minute intermission.
About the Playwright
Aline Lathrop’s plays have been produced or developed in Chicago and across the country. The Hero’s Wife received co-premiere productions at Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta and at Chicago’s 16th Street Theater. The play was nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for New Work in Chicago. Also at 16th Street Theater, Merchild, received its Jeff-recommended world premiere. Bordello (a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee), received its world premiere at Chicago Dramatists, as did Feast (one of the “Top 5 Best New Plays,” New City Magazine; First Prize, New Plays Festival, Centre Stage – South Carolina). A Piece of Bone received its Jeff-recommended world premiere at Circle Theatre of Forest Park.
Ms. Lathrop has also developed plays at Abingdon Theatre Company, American Theatre Company, Artistic Home, Boarshead Theatre, the Chicago Cultural Center, Columbia College, Concordia University, Famous Door Theatre Company, Northwestern University, Polarity Ensemble Theatre, Stage Left Theatre Company, Step Up Productions, and Theatre Seven. Her work has been published by Smith & Krauss. She is the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council fellowship and a Dr. Donahue Tremaine grant. The playwright is a graduate of the Northwestern University Theatre Department, a member of the Dramatists Guild, a 16th Street Theater Associate Artist, and a Chicago Dramatists Resident Playwright Alumna.