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A PLAYWRIGHT’S ODYSSEY

By Elissa Goetschius, Dramaturg

“Tell me, Muse, of the man of many ways, who was driven
far journeys, after he had sacked Troy’s sacred citadel.”

So begins Homer’s Odyssey, the epic poem that inspired Melissa James Gibson’s latest play, CURRENT NOBODY.  “I didn’t read the Odyssey until I got to college.  I think I was most struck by how it simultaneously manages to feel vast and intimate – like someone whispering in your ear the story of what it is to be human.”  Homer’s tale of Odysseus’ struggle to return home to his wife and child after the Trojan War was the starting point for her writing, but Melissa decided to begin her play with a twist: “what if she left and he stayed?”  Hence, Penelope, known for being faithful during the twenty years absence of her husband, became Pen, who leaves for Troy as a war photographer.  Odysseus, the adventurer, became Od, the stay-at-home father, not of Telemachus, but simply of Tel, their daughter.  And rather than emphasizing the great adventures of Pen – from the land of the Lotus Eaters to the fearsome perils of the monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis – Melissa has given equal weight to the characters left at home. 

The play focuses on the emotional impact Pen’s journey has on her relationship with her family, giving this epic story a very personal tone.  “Parenting is at once the most beautiful and impossible of situations,” says Melissa, herself a mother of two young children.  “How do I give my children everything they need without giving up the things I need to remain happy so I’m able to effectively give them everything they need?  It’s a crazy loop.”  From the first moment of her play, Melissa has focused on what she calls, “the cost of absence” – between child and parent, and between husband and wife.  Od’s first monologue conveys this longing with aching beauty:

And only once
so far
have I tried to convince myself that my hand is her hand
as I touch that spot behind my ear for her and I touch that area on my wrist for her and I touch that place on my ankle for her 
She has a fondness for off-the-beaten-track spots

And though
Already the hand feels foreign
Neither mine nor hers Nobody’s
that’s okay that’s okay…

Throughout, Melissa manipulates words and plays with their meanings, but none so memorably as the title word, “Nobody.”  Famous as the false name Odysseus gives himself during his encounter with the cyclops, the word serves a dual purpose in CURRENT NOBODY.  When Od invokes his absent wife, he is confronted by the fact that while he waits for her, “Nobody” returns.  This encapsulates the sense of abandonment felt by Od and Tel, but also serves as a reminder, for those familiar with the Odyssey, that Nobody will indeed come home at the end of the story.

Our daughter
our poor daughter is the true victim in this tale of woe and parental weakness
she has requested that I conceal the small thread I am hanging by and still
Nobody comes home
We have seen the Thirty Years War the Six Days War the Hundred Years War the War of 1812 the first and second wars and all the numberless rest and still
Nobody comes home

In Homer’s original, direct interaction with the gods is a central conceit.  Odysseus finds himself within sight of his homeland, Ithaca, multiple times throughout his journey, but is inevitably knocked off course by Poseidon or other forces beyond his control.  In CURRENT NOBODY, while there remains a sense of the gods’ presence, the world of Od and Pen is essentially a godless one.   Their actions may be influenced by any number of factors, but ultimately they must take responsibility for the outcomes. 
 
Helping Melissa bring this play to life is frequent collaborator, director Daniel Aukin.  The two first worked together in 2001 when Daniel directed Melissa’s play [sic] at Soho Rep.  Hailed by the New York Times as “the most alluring new play to open in New York this season,” the play received the prestigious Kesselring Prize as well as Obie Awards for both the playwright and director.  Since then Daniel has collaborated with Melissa on two more of her plays, Suitcase; or those that resemble flies from the distance and Brooklyn Bridge. 

The partnership works so well, according to Melissa, because they “trust each other’s artistic impulses and encourage them.”  Daniel, she feels, pushes her to “dig deeper and write better.”  For his part, Daniel considers Melissa’s playwriting voice to be “one of the most original and authoritative I have heard.”

The two have been working together on CURRENT NOBODY since the completion of the first draft.  They have gone through multiple workshops, including a month-long residency at the Sundance Theatre Institute in 2006.  “There always looms the very scary danger of writing something to death,” says Melissa.  “But in this case many explorations sparked by the source material have wound up on the cutting room floor, so to speak.  Although those umpteen scenes ultimately didn’t belong in the play, I needed to write them in order to find my own way.”

As she developed the play, Melissa moved farther away from a faithful adaptation and closer to her own story. At Sundance, for example, Homer’s suitors became documentary filmmakers, not only living in Od’s home and exploiting his hospitality but recording his daily struggles. “The Odyssey is humbling material to be working with, even when the goal is not a real adaptation.  I finally realized that as much as I’m beholden to the source material for the many ways in which it has fueled this piece, ultimately the best way to honor the genius of the Homer is to let it go.” 

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