Theatre Horizon presents Savannah Reich’s Oedipus in Seattle

Each performance of this play pairs two different actors who have never read the script or rehearsed a single line. Like the audience, they are in the dark about what they will say to each other onstage. For the duration of the show, they are guided only by narration and prompts through headphones they wear. Theatre Horizon calls it “part play, part social experiment, and part existential comedy.”

Tragedy and comedy

Oedipus Rex is the story of a prince who was abandoned by his parents after an oracle warned that he would kill his father (Laius, the King of Thebes) and marry his mother (Queen Jocasta). But a shepherd takes pity on the infant and saves him. Eventually, Oedipus comes into the household of the childless King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth. Mistaking them for his real parents, Oedipus flees them when he grows up and learns about the prophecy of his life. After he is attacked by a stranger, he kills him and later marries the stranger’s wife. But the stranger was his own father Laius, and Oedipus is now married to Jocasta. When they learn the truth, Jocasta dies by suicide, and Oedipus blinds himself.

Sleepless in Seattle, the 1993 rom-com starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, is much lighter fare. Hanks plays Sam Baldwin, a widowed father who has moved to Seattle with his young son Jonah, so he won’t be constantly reminded of his wife’s passing. But Sam and Jonah are both still grieving. On Christmas Eve, Jonah calls a talk-radio show and says he needs to find a new wife for his father, and persuades his father to go on the air. Annie Reed (Ryan), a reporter in Baltimore, hears the segment and falls in love with Sam, even though she’s engaged to marry someone else. She gets in touch with Sam and Jonah, and even though Sam tries to discard her letter, Jonah knows Annie and his father are meant to me. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances, they all meet at the top of the Empire State Building, where they immediately fall in love.

Bound by fate

Back at Theater Horizon, the audience and the two actors onstage hear a loud prerecorded voice giving directions (sound design by Douglas Vento). The voice asks the actors about Oedipus and Sleepless in Seattle. Without intermission, they portray Jocasta and Oedipus one minute, and Sam and Annie the next. They improvise. For example, while portraying Jocasta and Oedipus, she reminds him to watch his blood sugar. Oedipus responds, “who do you think you are? My mother?” A few minutes later, Morton unexpectedly goes from being Jocasta to being Annie, thinking out loud about her uncertainty about moving to Seattle, where it rains for nine months a year. There are moments of physical comedy, as when the actors enter, and the faceless voice instructs them to play several rounds of Rock Paper Scissors.

Beyond the effect of watching an unrehearsed play, at a glance the show’s mashup of source material was baffling. The playwright incorporates elements of both Oedipus Rex and Sleepless In Seattle. At first I wondered why she would juxtapose these two stories. They seem so different, but ultimately both of them feature characters who are bound by fate. By the end of the show, Reich’s creation makes sense.

I attended Oedipus in Seattle on September 27, for a performance featuring Amanda Morton and Josh Totora. The show runs through October 5, and you can find a full list of participating actors on the Theatre Horizon website, including Liz Filios, Justin Jain, Jered McLenigan, Bi Jean Ngo, Grace Gonglewski, and many more.