Sometime in the early 1980’s– Annie G. Levy first hears the Persephone myth when her mother started reading her, D’aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths. A cautionary tale about a girl who was taken from her mother, it was both frightening and intriguing. It was different than other stories, something so human at the heart of the tales of the gods. She rereads the story a lot as a teenager, at the age where you straddle the worlds of childhood and adulthood. She loves the book so much it falls apart.
2002 – A series of odd events lead Levy back the Persephone story. Levy has a theory that this is a shared narrative about growing up female and the relationship between mothers and daughters. Levy begin researching versions and interpretations of the story.
2005 – Nine women in their 20s gathered in found rooms and spaces in New York to reread, retell, write, improvise and unpack the myth of Persephone alongside our own tales of coming of age and loss of innocence. The process culminated in a work-in-progress reading at The Old Stone House in Brooklyn.
2006 – 12 students at Sarah Lawrence College workshopped the script created by those women and presented a reading of the refined text of Six Seeds: The Persephone Project.
April, 2009 – Under the direction of Annie Levy, 13 actors including three of the original nine, gathered in rehearsal studios in Brooklyn to turn the text inside out once again, this time in the physical. The process culminated in a workshopped staging at 440 Studios in Manhattan.
June, 2010 – A company of 14 theatre artists are gathered to rehearse, design and present six shows in one weekend of Six Seeds: The Persephone Project in an underground studio at Space on White in Tribeca.
October, 2010 – The Tank Presents selects Six Seeds… to be the final show of their inaugural curated theatre season, Theatre at the The Tank.
June, 2011 – With your help, SIX SEEDS: The Persephone Project will enjoy a two week run at The Tank and a continuing existence.
Since 2005, 45 actors, directors, writers, designers, technician and students have had their hand in collaborating on this unpacking of Six Seeds.
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