INTERVIEW: Welcome to a new ‘Iliad,’ this time set to ’80s synth
Photo: The Trojans finds a group of warehouse workers reliving their high school glory days. Photo courtesy of Loading Dock Theatre / Provided by Emily Owens PR with permission.
Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey are two epic poems that continually get adapted and interpreted for new generations. It’s actually unbelievable how influential these two landmark works continue to be, and now New York City theatergoers have the chance to see a new take on The Iliad with the musical The Trojans, playing through April 19 at the cell theatre in Chelsea, Manhattan. The show comes to the Big Apple courtesy of Loading Dock Theatre and Nancy Manocherian’s the cell theatre.
Leegrid Stevens provides the book and original music for the show, with the songs very much in the style of ’80s synthwave, making this interpretation of Homer’s work quite unique. The action in the show is set in a warehouse where the workers reenact their glory days from high school, according to press notes. Eric Paul Vitale directs the production, which is informed by The Iliad, but is not a minute-by-minute adaptation.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Stevens about the new work. The Brooklyn-based writer’s credits include War Dreamer; A Peregrine Falls; Spaceman; The Dudleys!; Mesquite, NV; and The Twelfth Labor. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
Did the idea for this musical come during the pandemic? What did day one look like?
I’m embarrassed how long I’ve been working on this musical. The very first test of some of the material was in 2015 at TheaterLab in Midtown. Back then the play was going to use all kinds of first-person video-game footage. That initial test at TheaterLab did what it was supposed to: make me realize we don’t want to use video.
That said, it was indeed the pandemic when I really dove into the music. I was watching every YouTube video on how to make music using tape loops, vintage synthesizers and old four-track cassette recorders. One of my favorite finds during the pandemic was a synthesizer from Soviet-era Russia called the Formanta Maestro. Everything was in Russian, but you could quickly get the idea what the knobs did. That synthesizer was finicky, unreliable and difficult to play, but oh boy did it sound immediately like warbled VHS tape. A lot of the music in the play was recorded using that one instrument. It just took many, many takes to play it correctly.
But to answer your question, the idea came from two places. I re-read The Iliad, and all the characters felt like the most amazing, brave, smart, heroic teenagers I’ve ever encountered. They all had superior, god-like abilities, but none of them had any regret, doubt or crippling failures. None of them had had to make painful compromises (yet). It was the Trojan War that either broke them of their youth or killed them. Nobody came out of that war still cock-sure of themselves and survived.
Second, I started listening to some synthwave music, and the two ideas merged.
Are you a fan of ’80s synthwave? How did you develop the original music?
Oh, yes, I’m definitely a fan of ’80s synth. It was the music I grew up loving, but the style of music that really got me interested in doing this play was the more modern “revisionist” kind of synthwave. There is a community of artists making new synthwave that hones in and exaggerates certain aspects of ’80s synth. It’s not accurate to the actual ’80s, but to our modern ear, it really reminds us of a time of beaches, sports cars, palm trees, slow-motion dancing, pink sunsets — all those things that I never actually experienced in my youth but were part of a collective dream we all had of ourselves. That was the dynamic that I wanted to try to capture, an exaggerated memory that never actually happened.
Is it obvious that the show is based on The Iliad, or is it only suggested by the classic text?
I think it will be obvious to those who know the story of The Iliad and the larger narrative of the Trojan War. I think people will be able to pick out Helen of Troy, for example. But some of the lesser-known characters, Ajax or Patrocolus, will be less obvious. But the point of the play isn’t to tell the story of The Iliad or confuse people if they aren’t familiar with the finer details. It’s to tap into a myth of ourselves. That is why I wanted to use The Iliad, one of the greatest myths of antiquity. What is the dream of ourselves, and how do we live with that dream as time passes?
Do you ever think back to your own high school glory years?
For years, I would have a series of dreams where I was back in high school, but instead of reliving what actually happened, I experienced what I wished had happened. I said and did the things I had wanted to do instead of what I actually did. It was a revision of memory. I would wake up feeling great and then realize that it was a fantasy and feel embarrassed that I seem to have some unresolved regret about my youth! Haha! My glory days were definitely not in high school.
Is the cell theatre well-suited for a show like this?
Absolutely, it is! It is such a unique space. It created the best kind of challenges for us, the kind that make you come up with interesting solutions. I wrote this thinking it would be played in a black-box or proscenium type space, but playing it in the thrust created such unique staging and movement that I can’t imagine it another way now. And the people who work at the cell are fantastic and supportive. It’s been a great experience.
What’s the state of indie theater in 2025?
This is just my opinion, and there are probably people who disagree, but I think indie theater is alive and well. Have things changed since I moved to NYC in 2000? Absolutely. There is less institutional support. There are fewer spaces. Money is tighter. But indie theater finds a way. I see so many fantastic, inventive shows each year. People find new spaces and new ways of making shows. The Tank, The Brick, Target Margin, even our little space at Loading Dock. It’s still happening. It’s not a golden age by any stretch. But indie theater is never going to die.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Trojans, with book and original music by Leegrid Stevens, continues through April 19 at the cell theatre in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
