"City of the Birds": An Adaptation of Aristophanes
A Full Length Play + Proposal
To: Potential Producers, Directors and Venues.
Contact information here.
From: Thaddeus Nagey
Phone: (310) 963-4317
Email: Rocknrollmusician@gmail.com
"City of the Birds": An Adaptation on American Issues of Injustice
My name is Thaddeus Nagey and I recently graduated with an M.A. in Theatre Arts at California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles, California. I am also a playwright, producer, music composer and actor. I have been based out of Los Angeles for that last six years and I am a native of San Diego, California. I have been involved with over 700 television, film, and theatre productions as an actor, editor, director, producer, writer, and production assistant on both the east and west coasts of the United States.
I would be honored if you would consider working on this project that I have created. The aim of this proposal is to introduce a creative adaptation of Aristophanes’ "The Birds" that I recently wrote. This play is ready to be produced as a world premier at a theatre or festival. Based on the projected box office success and attendance of the adaptation, "The City of the Birds" could also tour theatre fringe festivals. In the original play, "The Birds," written by Aristophanes, themes of taxation, immigration, a border wall, indentured servitude, slavery, and environmental devastation are infused into the dialogue and story. Maltreatment of the birds and wildlife are professed throughout the entire play. I wrote a play that parallels and confronts people with many of the issues that Americans are dealing with today while simultaneously tying them to a past of over 2,500 years ago.
The challenge? Create an adaptation of an old Greek play more accessible and reintroduce an important Greek playwright that was also dealing with many of the same issues that we are dealing with today.
I realized in this daunting task of reviewing and rewriting, line per line, I would have to point out that Aristophanes (an ancient Greek playwright) also tried to tackle many of these issues and bring a new adaptation to Hollywood (I am a local to L.A.) or have it produced elsewhere.
To this day, America has learned very little. We are still dealing with many of the issues that were posed by Aristophanes and the ancient Greeks. Aristophanes identified as a patriotic Athenian, and records show he lived at some point, from approximately 448-445 B.C. and died somewhere close to 380 B.C. He was reported to have been critical of people in government and was initially prosecuted for it in the Greek legal system. He was later publicly honored for promoting Athenian civic responsibility, produced his first play as a young adult and eventually went on to write nearly 40 plays.
(Segal 1)
The original play, "The Birds," won second prize and was first performed in 414 B.C. at the Dionysia festival in Greece. The original play has over 20 characters (plus chorus) with two elderly Athenian male protagonists named Peisetaerus and Euelpides. It is a one act play that has, in many productions since, run over 2 hours in length.
"The Birds" is likely the most produced comedy written by Aristophanes, in the world. Nearly all of the issues that Aristophanes deals with in the play are relevant to today’s America. In the last election, people in the United States experienced a ton of political and social division. There is a continuing issue of inequality in America with a shrinking middle class. There is also a massive disparity between the rich and the poor, and persisting climate change issues. The lack of resource for the majority of Americans has been a contentious issue.
In the Act I, Scene I directions of Aristophanes’ "The Birds," it is established that these two elderly Athenian men are dealing with rough terrain and delegating the harsh, heavy work of carrying their resources to their slaves. References to, and the exploitation of illegal immigration are made: “The scene is a rocky landscape…They are followed by two slaves carrying the rest of their luggage, including cooking equipment and bedding.”
(Segal 9)
PEISETAERUS: [To audience] The thing is, you gentleman that are listening, that we are suffering from the opposite affliction to Sacas. He’s a non-citizen trying to force his way in. We, having the full status of tribe and clan membership, citizens among citizens, and without anyone trying to shoo us away, have upped and flown out of our country on two swift feet…”
(Segal 10)
The issues of indentured servitude (in this case slavery) and immigration that Aristophanes wrote about are still relevant in America right now. But there are many
other issues that are of concern now, as they were also a concern over 2,500 years ago. Americans have experienced their healthcare being partially dismantled. The federal tax laws have also been completely changed. This administration has set forth an increase in policies that have encouraged pollution and a rollback of the endangered species act. Our country was one of the few that withdrew from a world climate change initiative pact called, “The Paris Agreement.” American pollution and
waste have increased. According the to U.S. Environmental Protection, Americans are less than 5% of the world’s population, and yet create more than 30% of the world’s waste. All the while, severe immigration issues have persisted on the U.S. and Mexico border.
(E.P.A. 1)
Story and Methodology
This new adaptation that I have written, called, "City of the Birds," is a three to four person play. There are four characters that can be played by three actors. The two lead characters in the play are two elderly American Senators, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. In the original play it follows two elderly Athenian men as the protagonists. Sacas (the servant) and Aristophanes can be played by the same person and all that is needed is a change in costume, mask, and/or makeup.
This play could be marketed toward the Hollywood Theatre Fringe Festival in 2020 or any other venue, and if successful, would create a template version for other theatre festivals in 2021. At the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the majority of venues are indoor and are located on Hollywood Theatre Row, a 1.4-mile stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The average annual attendance of this festival is approximately 25,000 for the entire length of the festival. According to the website, the Hollywood Fringe Festival artist registration fees are $175-$300 each, depending on the venue and the nature of the play’s needs. Registration for venues opens on November 15th and is a multi-step process. Participation registration opens on February 1st. The time between November and February can be used to create an online project and book the proper venue. Deadline for final registration and material submissions is April 15th. Tickets go on sale on May 1st and the festival starts in early June.
(Hollywood Fringe)
According to the Hollywood fringe website, the first part of the process is to create a project:
"It’s totally free to post an idea on our website…It can be anything you might like to bring to the Fringe, there is no obligation. Add some thoughts, pictures, video: Whatever you need to articulate your idea. This is a public project – anything you post can be seen by the Fringe world. Hopefully, it will attract some attention from members of the community who might be able to help by lending resources and assistance."
(Hollywood Fringe)
By registering with Hollywood Fringe, one can get access to support with promoting a play, boosting ticket sales, a full support team, press assistance, creating a better web presence, and discounted advertising. A producer will also get access to the Fringe blog that connects the community with fun activities and networking opportunities.
The story of the adaptation, "City of the Birds," follows two famous elderly American Senators, Joe Biden (Peisetaerus) and Bernie Sanders (Euelpides) who start out human and then transform into birds. They try and persuade other birds to create a new city in the sky in order to escape American government control, an unnecessary border wall, political oppression, pollution and climate change issues. Themes of how humans have cruelly and haphazardly imposed many of these issues upon all the bird species of the world are visited throughout the play.
In Act I, two elderly senators, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Sacas, the servant who is an immigrant who forced his way illegally into the United States to live amongst the human species in order to find out more about them. He finds out that they are demanding, cruel, insensitive, destructive, and abusive to the planet and everyone around them. Later, in act II, we find out Sacas is actually a bird that holds an ancient magical power to turn himself into a human being and back into a bird. He also has the power to transform others, the most deserving of mankind, into birds as well. In their desire to escape high taxes, political and social oppression, and pollution, they go off on a trek and walk a few hundred miles and bump into a wall that was originally designed to mark the border of the United States and Mexico. When they arrive, they expect there to be materials and a large workforce building the wall. They get this impression from the political speeches of the president and newspapers, and instead find no one working on the wall. All they find is an unwelcoming desert, a dilapidated wall, wire fence, the residual of burning petroleum from a refinery a couple hundred miles away, lots of garbage and waste blowing in the wind. Bernie and Biden boss Sacas around like he is their slave and he reluctantly follows them until they reach the wall and escapes. Bernie and Biden had gotten news from the market that a man named Aristophanes had transformed into a bird successfully and had found a utopia called, “Birdition.” Swindled by an American President, they bought two birds thinking that the birds would help them find their way to Aristophanes. Unfortunately, they were slapped with a tariff on the birds when the president found out that they were trying to leave the country. After Sacas escapes across the border, they finally are able to find Aristophanes, the magical Hoopoe bird (who was once a man and transformed into a bird) living in a hole in the wall. They knock on his small door and introduce themselves. They explain their plan to start over and they devise a plan together to create a city in the sky. But they need Aristophanes' help to convince all the birds of the world to join them in their plan to build their own utopia, "City of the Birds." They find that Aristophanes had also left humanity for many of the same reasons. Aristophanes decides to help them and calls a meeting of the birds. But they soon find out that the birds are angry and not so willing to work with the humans because of the way they have been treated and abused by humanity.
In Act II, Sacas reappears as a beautiful and magical bird. They recognize him and try to persuade him of their idea to build a utopia in the sky. The second half of the play is the negotiation with Sacas (as a representative of the birds) and convincing him not to kill or hurt them and to help to mend relations with the humans and build a place where all could live in harmony. During this journey and negotiation, Biden and Bernie are subsequently transformed into bird-like god figures. The birds replace human kind as the pre-eminent power on the planet. In this adaptation, the third and fourth actor will fill in as other characters as needed and will replace the chorus. While writing this play, I made the conscious effort to keep this production and cast small. In order to accommodate a limited budget and traveling, there won’t be a chorus like there was in the Aristophanes version. The set will be limited to a simulated wall (likely a painted drape) and miniature door. The play has elements of comedy and tragedy, often involving gloomy or morbid satire. It will be a comedy based on problems of emigration, the wall, the treatment of non-Americans, political and social issues and climate change, from the birds’ perspective.
Justification
What is different about this adaptation of "The Birds" from other environmental adaptations, is that this adaptation will not have a chorus, will be focused on pollution, immigration, a border wall, and the notion of equality and equal access to resource. The environmental impacts of plastics on the air, land and ocean environments is not only devastating the birds, it’s impacting the planet negatively and will eventually catch up to and confront the lively hood of the human species. This version will also replace the Gods with human dominance and attempt to see things from “a bird’s eye.” According to Mass Audubon, in the state of Massachusetts, of 143 breeding bird species evaluated in a recent report, at least 58% of these birds will be measurably vulnerable to the effects of climate change (Mass Audubon, 1-3). This is the case all over the world. Where mass pollution is more prominent, birds are often one of the
first indications that an environment has been negatively impacted. In turn, the birds are forced to migrate to new places in search for more livable conditions. This can also be paralleled with the human species in regard to immigration with climate change, economic, social, and political conditions. You can see this represented in my adaptation in the following dialogue:
BIDEN: The sign on your door says, “Birds Beware”
ARISTOPHANES: I assure you, I am a bird.
BIDEN: Prove your feathers! Show me your passport!
ARISTOPHANES: It saddens me that my feathers have fallen off...
BERNIE: Aside from a sight for sore eyes, is this because of some disease?
ARISTOPHANES: Yes. Because ever since I swam in the gulf waters, my feathers have
fallen and my skin has peeled. The good news? I haven’t felt hungry in a while. Those
colorful plastics really know how to fill a bird up.
(Nagey 12)
The play will be about an hour to an hour and a half in length (depending on the director's vision and performance) in order to fit the guidelines of most fringe festival requirements. In many cultures, birds are often seen as intermediaries between earth and sky, that is between the material world and the spiritual world. In Greek culture, they were often considered announcers of fortune or disaster. And often specific birds would represent different meanings and symbolisms. Often when natural disasters or severe human-impacted environmental changes hit a geographical area, they not only disrupt birds’ behavior, birds often become the most vulnerable and are among the first species to respond to their negatively impacted environments. Here, one of the protagonists describes many of the issues that inspires him to want to leave his country and find a new one:
BIDEN: (Shouts at Bernie) Say no more! (looks to audience and all other characters
freeze) Sacas is a non-citizen-I heard he came here in one of those caravans. You know, an illegal. (Looks at Sacas nervously and then looks back at audience) We, being natural born Americans-without having to worry about being kicked out or deported, have upped and taken flight out of the U.S. of A. with our own two feet. I mean, we are satisfied and grateful that the entire world wants to come to our cities, Eh-hem. Yes. Taxes and tariffs. Because we benefit. We do. Don’t get me wrong. Here’s the thing: the cicadas chirp in the fields for a couple of months, while Americans chirp away at lawsuits-and it never ends. Ban this group, ban that group. Ban Muslims, ban Jews. Ban blacks, ban the natives. Who’s left? Government shuts down. People starve. Americans dump their waste. The world burns petroleum...and plastics. Birds suffocate and die. It’s all a cycle. Right. Not natural though. Not at all. That’s why we’re trekking this trek. Walking the walk. Talking the talk? Servant!
(Nagey 9)
Immigrant children have been ripped away from their families and put in detention centers, without ever knowing or having a guarantee that they will ever get released or be put in touch with their families every again. According to an organization called, “Freedom for Immigrants” Formerly known as the “Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement” (CIVIC) there are over 200 immigrant detention centers across the united states. This organization tracks and maintains live maps of the immigrant prisons and jails in the U.S. (Freedom for Immigrants) The current president won his position partially based on a platform of building a giant wall and making Mexico pay for it. It has been a contentious issue for debate and an undelivered campaign promise. Aristophanes play mentions a big wall and toward the middle of the play:
PEISETAERUS: Very well then, I instruct you first of all that there should be a single
City of the Birds; and then you should completely encircle the whole of the air, and all
this space between heaven and earth, with a wall of great baked bricks, like Babylon.”
(Segal 30)
But if we, as a society, look at history, we can easily decipher that a great big government wall has nearly always ended up in political turmoil and military and civilian bloodshed. All one needs to do is look back at the great wall of Babylon, The Great Wall of China, Rome, Jerusalem, Berlin, and the U.S. and Mexica border wall.
PEISETARUS: Come on now you go off to the air and do some odd jobs for the wall
builders: Fetch them up rubble, strip off and mix mortar…
(Segal 40)
In my version, Biden and Bernie walk a few hundred miles in the desert and bump into the U.S. and Mexico border wall. They attempt to leave the U.S. because they have had enough of the issues of taxation, pollution, inequalities and unsatisfactory political and social conditions. They set out to find a man by the name of Aristophanes who had once been a man and transformed into a bird. They are told that he may know of a utopia that they could move to where they can turn into birds, bridge the gap between humanity and the birds and live in harmony. They are told they will find people building a wall on the border and when they get there, they find nothing by pollution in the air, garbage on the ground, and no one and no building materials
in sight. They meet Aristophanes and find there isn’t such a place and that the birds are angry. Aristophanes calls out to the birds to get them to hear Bernie and Biden’s proposal to build a new utopian city that will unite humanity and the birds. They negotiate with the birds and go back and forth on whether or not to actually build a wall of their own or to include the humans that want to change.
ARISTOPHANES: (Finishes Reveille. The sound of a nightingale and then more birds.)
Through the dilapidated wire-clad broken wall and fence comes the pure sound, reaching the abode of that real estate mogul, where the Goldman-Sax of Wall Street trades! And in response to your elegies, plummets! His ivory tower crumbles, his tax hikes and tax cuts become meaningless! Your songs disturb his unlawful campaign contributions! We will make music together! We shall clear the skies of all pollution! Make our own world! And from the immortal lips of the birds, one voice as harmonious, swelling divine, a superb refrain of the blessed ones.
(Nagey 20)
BIDEN: Very well then. I’ll instruct you first! There should be a “City of the Birds.” You
should all then circle the whole of the air and in this heavenly space, with a wall greater than any small-minded politician could even imagine, build it greater than any in the history of human kind. And it will KEEP THE HUMANS OUT! We shall use great big baked bricks like to pyramids of Egypt. And we will make the humans pay for it!
(Nagey 37)
They eventually devise a plan to include all the humans that want to transform, work together and change. In the end, they decide to try and unite everyone so that they may all live in happiness and peace.
Venues and Organization
In addition to application to The Hollywood Fringe Festival, I would also contact a series of venues to propose my show for a specific space. In the effort to gain the largest audience possible for this production, the four venues I would apply for first are:
1. The MET Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Ave. E. Hollywood, CA 90029.
The MET is a large black box theatre with stadium seating of 120 seats. They have large dressing room facilities sized, lobby, tech crew available, and box office with staff.
2. The Hobgoblin Playhouse, 1625 N Las Palmas Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90028.
This theatre has 99 seats and is fully equipped. It has a large lobby, two dressing rooms, and most importantly is ADA -compliant with multiple street level entrances and an outside courtyard. The theatre is managed by Fringe veterans Greg and Jenn Crafts. The venue will also provide access to a marketing plan provided by the venue at no extra charge. They also provide mentorship from fringe veteran producers.
3. The New Collective, 6440 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, California. 90038.
This theatre is on Theatre Row. It is a full-time acting studio founded by Greg Braun and Matthew Word. Space availability is limited to Thursday-Sunday for readings, rehearsals, and casting sessions. It has a large lobby area and a space for small performances with approximately 40 seats.
4. The Stephanie Feury Studio Theater. 5636 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California. 90038. The space has 36 seats, a lobby, and a rehearsal room for readings, meetings, workshops and rehearsals. They also have props, furniture, lighting and a kitchen. They do not have their own parking, but plenty of street parking.
The producer responsibilities would likely include finding proper funding, sponsors, costs, transportation and logistics, marketing, hiring costume and props personnel, a director, and casting. The casting process would start through online casting job boards like Casting Networks (formally known as L.A. Casting) Actor’s Access, Backstage, Casting Frontier and others. I would hold casting auditions for two weeks with a hired director and then spend a minimum of three months, three days a week, allowing rehearsals for the play. This play should have the ability to be performed outside or inside and will have minimal set requirements. Because of the
low budget, minimal spatial criteria, and it being a three-actor play, the production would be ideal for touring to many different theatre festivals across the world. This production will be primarily costume and prop driven. The set will depict a dilapidated simulation of a wall with signs painted. The wall will most likely be some sort of painted drape. The task of making of this drape will be given to the costume designer. Performance will not require a large space. Likely, a stage no more than 15 feet wide by 6 feet in length would be more than sufficient. Producing this adaptation would serve as an opportunity for the annual Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival to put on an inspired Greek story that is over 2,500 years old (414 B.C.) and make the play and its issues relevant to 21st century American fringe theatre attendees. After proving success, this three-person play, "City of the Birds," could serve a traveling vehicle to other festivals, with the primary goal to not only entertain, but inform and talk about prominent social and political issues in America. The hope and goal would be to help in the influence and change of attitudes about American social, political, and environment issues. Issues like pollution, taxation, healthcare, education, immigration, and the notion of an unnecessary extension of a border wall.
Bibliography
Aristophanes. "The Birds." The Floating Press, 2010.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csun/detail.action?docID=563840
Will use Aristophanes’ The Birds as the primary base for the creation and adaptation of a new play and proposal for theatre fringe festivals. This will be the main inspiration that will help form dialogue, plot, and play rhythm. Will incorporate the story of the birds with Aristophanes’ biographical information, bird symbolism, and current climate change and pollution issues.
Bloom, Harold. Aristophanes. Chelsea House, 2002.
A Biography of Aristophanes. Will use this book for historical and biographical
anecdotes about the author and incorporate commentary into proposal and written play. Will also utilize Greek forms of address, literary aspects, plot summary, critical reviews, and symbolism provided in this text to influence my create writing and proposal.
Hollywood Fringe. “All About Registration.” Published by The Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival. 6 MAY 2019. https://support.hollywoodfringe.org/hc/en-us/articles/115000016391-ALL-ABOUT-REGISTRATION
The Hollywood Fringe website will be used to describe the process of producing and
registering a show with the theatre festival. The process, venues, dates, costs, and
timelines will be laid out and discussed to support the viability of getting my adaptation, City of the Birds produced.
Hollywood Fringe. “Venues.” Hollywood Fringe. “All About Registration.” Published by
The Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival. 6 MAY 2019. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/venues
Used this portion of the Hollywood Fringe website to discover venues and spaces that are already connected to the Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival. Covers names, addresses, information about facilities, size, services, pictures of spaces, and links to the actual venue websites.
Mass Audubon. Conversvation: Mass Audubon State of the Birds 2017. Published by Mass Audubon 2019. https://www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/wildlife-
research-conservation/statewide-bird-monitoring/state-of-the-birds
Facts, figures, and information along with other news articles and affiliated research will be used from this non-profit organization. Websites and organizations like Mass
Audubon, will help support the thesis that climate change and pollution not only has a
devastating effect on our planetary environment, it has a negative impact on birds and
wildlife. Information that organizations like Mass Audubon provide, prove the assertion that Birds are often one of the first warning signs that there is environmental
damage to a geographical area.
Nagey, Thaddeus. The City of the Birds: An Adaptation. An unpublished play. 6 MAY
2019.
Excepts of the play that I wrote will be used to describe the play and the important issues that the adaptation covers. The excerpts will also be used as samples in order to persuade the festivals and theatre spaces that my play is worthy of acceptance and production.
Segal, Erich. Classical Comedy. Penguin, 2006.
The history, commentary, and background to Greek comedy and Aristophanes’
"The Birds" will be used from this book. Will also use character descriptions and analyzations of character, plot, form, and Greek comedy literature as described, written and edited by Erich Segal.
United States. Bureau of Land Management. Boise District Office, issuing body. United
States Bureau of Land Management. Boise District Office, and ARCHIVE Inc. I01CALS_USB.
Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area: Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement. 2008. This provides supporting documents for proposed resource management plan and final environmental impact statement for Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. Will use vocabulary and report to support and influence writing in regard to play story lines. This information will be useful for commentary in play about human laws, activities and viewpoints. Will also use information for when The Birds create their own city in the sky.
Freedom for Immigrants. “Detention statistics.” Published by Freedom for Immigrants. 6 MAY 2019. https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/detention-statistics.
Data will be used to describe the dire need of immigration reform and need to talk about issues in immigration detention and the wall as it pertains to the adaptation, "City of the Birds." This information will help to justify why these issues are important, why they are covered in the adaptation, and to persuade the urgency of creating a production that covers these issues.
Environmental Protection Agency. “Wastes.” Published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. 29 March 2016.
https://archive.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/web/html/
Statistical data and information will be used about how much waste and pollution is
created by Americans in regard to the rest of the world. This will support the notion that there is an imminent need to present facts about climate change issues and deliver these messages through theatrical forms so that people will be able to listen and receive them.
To: Potential Producers, Directors and Venues.
Contact information here.
From: Thaddeus Nagey
Phone: (310) 963-4317
Email: Rocknrollmusician@gmail.com
"City of the Birds": An Adaptation on American Issues of Injustice
My name is Thaddeus Nagey and I recently graduated with an M.A. in Theatre Arts at California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles, California. I am also a playwright, producer, music composer and actor. I have been based out of Los Angeles for that last six years and I am a native of San Diego, California. I have been involved with over 700 television, film, and theatre productions as an actor, editor, director, producer, writer, and production assistant on both the east and west coasts of the United States.
I would be honored if you would consider working on this project that I have created. The aim of this proposal is to introduce a creative adaptation of Aristophanes’ "The Birds" that I recently wrote. This play is ready to be produced as a world premier at a theatre or festival. Based on the projected box office success and attendance of the adaptation, "The City of the Birds" could also tour theatre fringe festivals. In the original play, "The Birds," written by Aristophanes, themes of taxation, immigration, a border wall, indentured servitude, slavery, and environmental devastation are infused into the dialogue and story. Maltreatment of the birds and wildlife are professed throughout the entire play. I wrote a play that parallels and confronts people with many of the issues that Americans are dealing with today while simultaneously tying them to a past of over 2,500 years ago.
The challenge? Create an adaptation of an old Greek play more accessible and reintroduce an important Greek playwright that was also dealing with many of the same issues that we are dealing with today.
I realized in this daunting task of reviewing and rewriting, line per line, I would have to point out that Aristophanes (an ancient Greek playwright) also tried to tackle many of these issues and bring a new adaptation to Hollywood (I am a local to L.A.) or have it produced elsewhere.
To this day, America has learned very little. We are still dealing with many of the issues that were posed by Aristophanes and the ancient Greeks. Aristophanes identified as a patriotic Athenian, and records show he lived at some point, from approximately 448-445 B.C. and died somewhere close to 380 B.C. He was reported to have been critical of people in government and was initially prosecuted for it in the Greek legal system. He was later publicly honored for promoting Athenian civic responsibility, produced his first play as a young adult and eventually went on to write nearly 40 plays.
(Segal 1)
The original play, "The Birds," won second prize and was first performed in 414 B.C. at the Dionysia festival in Greece. The original play has over 20 characters (plus chorus) with two elderly Athenian male protagonists named Peisetaerus and Euelpides. It is a one act play that has, in many productions since, run over 2 hours in length.
"The Birds" is likely the most produced comedy written by Aristophanes, in the world. Nearly all of the issues that Aristophanes deals with in the play are relevant to today’s America. In the last election, people in the United States experienced a ton of political and social division. There is a continuing issue of inequality in America with a shrinking middle class. There is also a massive disparity between the rich and the poor, and persisting climate change issues. The lack of resource for the majority of Americans has been a contentious issue.
In the Act I, Scene I directions of Aristophanes’ "The Birds," it is established that these two elderly Athenian men are dealing with rough terrain and delegating the harsh, heavy work of carrying their resources to their slaves. References to, and the exploitation of illegal immigration are made: “The scene is a rocky landscape…They are followed by two slaves carrying the rest of their luggage, including cooking equipment and bedding.”
(Segal 9)
PEISETAERUS: [To audience] The thing is, you gentleman that are listening, that we are suffering from the opposite affliction to Sacas. He’s a non-citizen trying to force his way in. We, having the full status of tribe and clan membership, citizens among citizens, and without anyone trying to shoo us away, have upped and flown out of our country on two swift feet…”
(Segal 10)
The issues of indentured servitude (in this case slavery) and immigration that Aristophanes wrote about are still relevant in America right now. But there are many
other issues that are of concern now, as they were also a concern over 2,500 years ago. Americans have experienced their healthcare being partially dismantled. The federal tax laws have also been completely changed. This administration has set forth an increase in policies that have encouraged pollution and a rollback of the endangered species act. Our country was one of the few that withdrew from a world climate change initiative pact called, “The Paris Agreement.” American pollution and
waste have increased. According the to U.S. Environmental Protection, Americans are less than 5% of the world’s population, and yet create more than 30% of the world’s waste. All the while, severe immigration issues have persisted on the U.S. and Mexico border.
(E.P.A. 1)
Story and Methodology
This new adaptation that I have written, called, "City of the Birds," is a three to four person play. There are four characters that can be played by three actors. The two lead characters in the play are two elderly American Senators, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. In the original play it follows two elderly Athenian men as the protagonists. Sacas (the servant) and Aristophanes can be played by the same person and all that is needed is a change in costume, mask, and/or makeup.
This play could be marketed toward the Hollywood Theatre Fringe Festival in 2020 or any other venue, and if successful, would create a template version for other theatre festivals in 2021. At the Hollywood Fringe Festival, the majority of venues are indoor and are located on Hollywood Theatre Row, a 1.4-mile stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. The average annual attendance of this festival is approximately 25,000 for the entire length of the festival. According to the website, the Hollywood Fringe Festival artist registration fees are $175-$300 each, depending on the venue and the nature of the play’s needs. Registration for venues opens on November 15th and is a multi-step process. Participation registration opens on February 1st. The time between November and February can be used to create an online project and book the proper venue. Deadline for final registration and material submissions is April 15th. Tickets go on sale on May 1st and the festival starts in early June.
(Hollywood Fringe)
According to the Hollywood fringe website, the first part of the process is to create a project:
"It’s totally free to post an idea on our website…It can be anything you might like to bring to the Fringe, there is no obligation. Add some thoughts, pictures, video: Whatever you need to articulate your idea. This is a public project – anything you post can be seen by the Fringe world. Hopefully, it will attract some attention from members of the community who might be able to help by lending resources and assistance."
(Hollywood Fringe)
By registering with Hollywood Fringe, one can get access to support with promoting a play, boosting ticket sales, a full support team, press assistance, creating a better web presence, and discounted advertising. A producer will also get access to the Fringe blog that connects the community with fun activities and networking opportunities.
The story of the adaptation, "City of the Birds," follows two famous elderly American Senators, Joe Biden (Peisetaerus) and Bernie Sanders (Euelpides) who start out human and then transform into birds. They try and persuade other birds to create a new city in the sky in order to escape American government control, an unnecessary border wall, political oppression, pollution and climate change issues. Themes of how humans have cruelly and haphazardly imposed many of these issues upon all the bird species of the world are visited throughout the play.
In Act I, two elderly senators, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Sacas, the servant who is an immigrant who forced his way illegally into the United States to live amongst the human species in order to find out more about them. He finds out that they are demanding, cruel, insensitive, destructive, and abusive to the planet and everyone around them. Later, in act II, we find out Sacas is actually a bird that holds an ancient magical power to turn himself into a human being and back into a bird. He also has the power to transform others, the most deserving of mankind, into birds as well. In their desire to escape high taxes, political and social oppression, and pollution, they go off on a trek and walk a few hundred miles and bump into a wall that was originally designed to mark the border of the United States and Mexico. When they arrive, they expect there to be materials and a large workforce building the wall. They get this impression from the political speeches of the president and newspapers, and instead find no one working on the wall. All they find is an unwelcoming desert, a dilapidated wall, wire fence, the residual of burning petroleum from a refinery a couple hundred miles away, lots of garbage and waste blowing in the wind. Bernie and Biden boss Sacas around like he is their slave and he reluctantly follows them until they reach the wall and escapes. Bernie and Biden had gotten news from the market that a man named Aristophanes had transformed into a bird successfully and had found a utopia called, “Birdition.” Swindled by an American President, they bought two birds thinking that the birds would help them find their way to Aristophanes. Unfortunately, they were slapped with a tariff on the birds when the president found out that they were trying to leave the country. After Sacas escapes across the border, they finally are able to find Aristophanes, the magical Hoopoe bird (who was once a man and transformed into a bird) living in a hole in the wall. They knock on his small door and introduce themselves. They explain their plan to start over and they devise a plan together to create a city in the sky. But they need Aristophanes' help to convince all the birds of the world to join them in their plan to build their own utopia, "City of the Birds." They find that Aristophanes had also left humanity for many of the same reasons. Aristophanes decides to help them and calls a meeting of the birds. But they soon find out that the birds are angry and not so willing to work with the humans because of the way they have been treated and abused by humanity.
In Act II, Sacas reappears as a beautiful and magical bird. They recognize him and try to persuade him of their idea to build a utopia in the sky. The second half of the play is the negotiation with Sacas (as a representative of the birds) and convincing him not to kill or hurt them and to help to mend relations with the humans and build a place where all could live in harmony. During this journey and negotiation, Biden and Bernie are subsequently transformed into bird-like god figures. The birds replace human kind as the pre-eminent power on the planet. In this adaptation, the third and fourth actor will fill in as other characters as needed and will replace the chorus. While writing this play, I made the conscious effort to keep this production and cast small. In order to accommodate a limited budget and traveling, there won’t be a chorus like there was in the Aristophanes version. The set will be limited to a simulated wall (likely a painted drape) and miniature door. The play has elements of comedy and tragedy, often involving gloomy or morbid satire. It will be a comedy based on problems of emigration, the wall, the treatment of non-Americans, political and social issues and climate change, from the birds’ perspective.
Justification
What is different about this adaptation of "The Birds" from other environmental adaptations, is that this adaptation will not have a chorus, will be focused on pollution, immigration, a border wall, and the notion of equality and equal access to resource. The environmental impacts of plastics on the air, land and ocean environments is not only devastating the birds, it’s impacting the planet negatively and will eventually catch up to and confront the lively hood of the human species. This version will also replace the Gods with human dominance and attempt to see things from “a bird’s eye.” According to Mass Audubon, in the state of Massachusetts, of 143 breeding bird species evaluated in a recent report, at least 58% of these birds will be measurably vulnerable to the effects of climate change (Mass Audubon, 1-3). This is the case all over the world. Where mass pollution is more prominent, birds are often one of the
first indications that an environment has been negatively impacted. In turn, the birds are forced to migrate to new places in search for more livable conditions. This can also be paralleled with the human species in regard to immigration with climate change, economic, social, and political conditions. You can see this represented in my adaptation in the following dialogue:
BIDEN: The sign on your door says, “Birds Beware”
ARISTOPHANES: I assure you, I am a bird.
BIDEN: Prove your feathers! Show me your passport!
ARISTOPHANES: It saddens me that my feathers have fallen off...
BERNIE: Aside from a sight for sore eyes, is this because of some disease?
ARISTOPHANES: Yes. Because ever since I swam in the gulf waters, my feathers have
fallen and my skin has peeled. The good news? I haven’t felt hungry in a while. Those
colorful plastics really know how to fill a bird up.
(Nagey 12)
The play will be about an hour to an hour and a half in length (depending on the director's vision and performance) in order to fit the guidelines of most fringe festival requirements. In many cultures, birds are often seen as intermediaries between earth and sky, that is between the material world and the spiritual world. In Greek culture, they were often considered announcers of fortune or disaster. And often specific birds would represent different meanings and symbolisms. Often when natural disasters or severe human-impacted environmental changes hit a geographical area, they not only disrupt birds’ behavior, birds often become the most vulnerable and are among the first species to respond to their negatively impacted environments. Here, one of the protagonists describes many of the issues that inspires him to want to leave his country and find a new one:
BIDEN: (Shouts at Bernie) Say no more! (looks to audience and all other characters
freeze) Sacas is a non-citizen-I heard he came here in one of those caravans. You know, an illegal. (Looks at Sacas nervously and then looks back at audience) We, being natural born Americans-without having to worry about being kicked out or deported, have upped and taken flight out of the U.S. of A. with our own two feet. I mean, we are satisfied and grateful that the entire world wants to come to our cities, Eh-hem. Yes. Taxes and tariffs. Because we benefit. We do. Don’t get me wrong. Here’s the thing: the cicadas chirp in the fields for a couple of months, while Americans chirp away at lawsuits-and it never ends. Ban this group, ban that group. Ban Muslims, ban Jews. Ban blacks, ban the natives. Who’s left? Government shuts down. People starve. Americans dump their waste. The world burns petroleum...and plastics. Birds suffocate and die. It’s all a cycle. Right. Not natural though. Not at all. That’s why we’re trekking this trek. Walking the walk. Talking the talk? Servant!
(Nagey 9)
Immigrant children have been ripped away from their families and put in detention centers, without ever knowing or having a guarantee that they will ever get released or be put in touch with their families every again. According to an organization called, “Freedom for Immigrants” Formerly known as the “Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement” (CIVIC) there are over 200 immigrant detention centers across the united states. This organization tracks and maintains live maps of the immigrant prisons and jails in the U.S. (Freedom for Immigrants) The current president won his position partially based on a platform of building a giant wall and making Mexico pay for it. It has been a contentious issue for debate and an undelivered campaign promise. Aristophanes play mentions a big wall and toward the middle of the play:
PEISETAERUS: Very well then, I instruct you first of all that there should be a single
City of the Birds; and then you should completely encircle the whole of the air, and all
this space between heaven and earth, with a wall of great baked bricks, like Babylon.”
(Segal 30)
But if we, as a society, look at history, we can easily decipher that a great big government wall has nearly always ended up in political turmoil and military and civilian bloodshed. All one needs to do is look back at the great wall of Babylon, The Great Wall of China, Rome, Jerusalem, Berlin, and the U.S. and Mexica border wall.
PEISETARUS: Come on now you go off to the air and do some odd jobs for the wall
builders: Fetch them up rubble, strip off and mix mortar…
(Segal 40)
In my version, Biden and Bernie walk a few hundred miles in the desert and bump into the U.S. and Mexico border wall. They attempt to leave the U.S. because they have had enough of the issues of taxation, pollution, inequalities and unsatisfactory political and social conditions. They set out to find a man by the name of Aristophanes who had once been a man and transformed into a bird. They are told that he may know of a utopia that they could move to where they can turn into birds, bridge the gap between humanity and the birds and live in harmony. They are told they will find people building a wall on the border and when they get there, they find nothing by pollution in the air, garbage on the ground, and no one and no building materials
in sight. They meet Aristophanes and find there isn’t such a place and that the birds are angry. Aristophanes calls out to the birds to get them to hear Bernie and Biden’s proposal to build a new utopian city that will unite humanity and the birds. They negotiate with the birds and go back and forth on whether or not to actually build a wall of their own or to include the humans that want to change.
ARISTOPHANES: (Finishes Reveille. The sound of a nightingale and then more birds.)
Through the dilapidated wire-clad broken wall and fence comes the pure sound, reaching the abode of that real estate mogul, where the Goldman-Sax of Wall Street trades! And in response to your elegies, plummets! His ivory tower crumbles, his tax hikes and tax cuts become meaningless! Your songs disturb his unlawful campaign contributions! We will make music together! We shall clear the skies of all pollution! Make our own world! And from the immortal lips of the birds, one voice as harmonious, swelling divine, a superb refrain of the blessed ones.
(Nagey 20)
BIDEN: Very well then. I’ll instruct you first! There should be a “City of the Birds.” You
should all then circle the whole of the air and in this heavenly space, with a wall greater than any small-minded politician could even imagine, build it greater than any in the history of human kind. And it will KEEP THE HUMANS OUT! We shall use great big baked bricks like to pyramids of Egypt. And we will make the humans pay for it!
(Nagey 37)
They eventually devise a plan to include all the humans that want to transform, work together and change. In the end, they decide to try and unite everyone so that they may all live in happiness and peace.
Venues and Organization
In addition to application to The Hollywood Fringe Festival, I would also contact a series of venues to propose my show for a specific space. In the effort to gain the largest audience possible for this production, the four venues I would apply for first are:
1. The MET Theatre, 1089 N. Oxford Ave. E. Hollywood, CA 90029.
The MET is a large black box theatre with stadium seating of 120 seats. They have large dressing room facilities sized, lobby, tech crew available, and box office with staff.
2. The Hobgoblin Playhouse, 1625 N Las Palmas Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90028.
This theatre has 99 seats and is fully equipped. It has a large lobby, two dressing rooms, and most importantly is ADA -compliant with multiple street level entrances and an outside courtyard. The theatre is managed by Fringe veterans Greg and Jenn Crafts. The venue will also provide access to a marketing plan provided by the venue at no extra charge. They also provide mentorship from fringe veteran producers.
3. The New Collective, 6440 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, California. 90038.
This theatre is on Theatre Row. It is a full-time acting studio founded by Greg Braun and Matthew Word. Space availability is limited to Thursday-Sunday for readings, rehearsals, and casting sessions. It has a large lobby area and a space for small performances with approximately 40 seats.
4. The Stephanie Feury Studio Theater. 5636 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, California. 90038. The space has 36 seats, a lobby, and a rehearsal room for readings, meetings, workshops and rehearsals. They also have props, furniture, lighting and a kitchen. They do not have their own parking, but plenty of street parking.
The producer responsibilities would likely include finding proper funding, sponsors, costs, transportation and logistics, marketing, hiring costume and props personnel, a director, and casting. The casting process would start through online casting job boards like Casting Networks (formally known as L.A. Casting) Actor’s Access, Backstage, Casting Frontier and others. I would hold casting auditions for two weeks with a hired director and then spend a minimum of three months, three days a week, allowing rehearsals for the play. This play should have the ability to be performed outside or inside and will have minimal set requirements. Because of the
low budget, minimal spatial criteria, and it being a three-actor play, the production would be ideal for touring to many different theatre festivals across the world. This production will be primarily costume and prop driven. The set will depict a dilapidated simulation of a wall with signs painted. The wall will most likely be some sort of painted drape. The task of making of this drape will be given to the costume designer. Performance will not require a large space. Likely, a stage no more than 15 feet wide by 6 feet in length would be more than sufficient. Producing this adaptation would serve as an opportunity for the annual Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival to put on an inspired Greek story that is over 2,500 years old (414 B.C.) and make the play and its issues relevant to 21st century American fringe theatre attendees. After proving success, this three-person play, "City of the Birds," could serve a traveling vehicle to other festivals, with the primary goal to not only entertain, but inform and talk about prominent social and political issues in America. The hope and goal would be to help in the influence and change of attitudes about American social, political, and environment issues. Issues like pollution, taxation, healthcare, education, immigration, and the notion of an unnecessary extension of a border wall.
Bibliography
Aristophanes. "The Birds." The Floating Press, 2010.
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csun/detail.action?docID=563840
Will use Aristophanes’ The Birds as the primary base for the creation and adaptation of a new play and proposal for theatre fringe festivals. This will be the main inspiration that will help form dialogue, plot, and play rhythm. Will incorporate the story of the birds with Aristophanes’ biographical information, bird symbolism, and current climate change and pollution issues.
Bloom, Harold. Aristophanes. Chelsea House, 2002.
A Biography of Aristophanes. Will use this book for historical and biographical
anecdotes about the author and incorporate commentary into proposal and written play. Will also utilize Greek forms of address, literary aspects, plot summary, critical reviews, and symbolism provided in this text to influence my create writing and proposal.
Hollywood Fringe. “All About Registration.” Published by The Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival. 6 MAY 2019. https://support.hollywoodfringe.org/hc/en-us/articles/115000016391-ALL-ABOUT-REGISTRATION
The Hollywood Fringe website will be used to describe the process of producing and
registering a show with the theatre festival. The process, venues, dates, costs, and
timelines will be laid out and discussed to support the viability of getting my adaptation, City of the Birds produced.
Hollywood Fringe. “Venues.” Hollywood Fringe. “All About Registration.” Published by
The Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival. 6 MAY 2019. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/venues
Used this portion of the Hollywood Fringe website to discover venues and spaces that are already connected to the Hollywood Fringe Theatre Festival. Covers names, addresses, information about facilities, size, services, pictures of spaces, and links to the actual venue websites.
Mass Audubon. Conversvation: Mass Audubon State of the Birds 2017. Published by Mass Audubon 2019. https://www.massaudubon.org/our-conservation-work/wildlife-
research-conservation/statewide-bird-monitoring/state-of-the-birds
Facts, figures, and information along with other news articles and affiliated research will be used from this non-profit organization. Websites and organizations like Mass
Audubon, will help support the thesis that climate change and pollution not only has a
devastating effect on our planetary environment, it has a negative impact on birds and
wildlife. Information that organizations like Mass Audubon provide, prove the assertion that Birds are often one of the first warning signs that there is environmental
damage to a geographical area.
Nagey, Thaddeus. The City of the Birds: An Adaptation. An unpublished play. 6 MAY
2019.
Excepts of the play that I wrote will be used to describe the play and the important issues that the adaptation covers. The excerpts will also be used as samples in order to persuade the festivals and theatre spaces that my play is worthy of acceptance and production.
Segal, Erich. Classical Comedy. Penguin, 2006.
The history, commentary, and background to Greek comedy and Aristophanes’
"The Birds" will be used from this book. Will also use character descriptions and analyzations of character, plot, form, and Greek comedy literature as described, written and edited by Erich Segal.
United States. Bureau of Land Management. Boise District Office, issuing body. United
States Bureau of Land Management. Boise District Office, and ARCHIVE Inc. I01CALS_USB.
Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area: Proposed Resource Management Plan and Final Environmental Impact Statement. 2008. This provides supporting documents for proposed resource management plan and final environmental impact statement for Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. Will use vocabulary and report to support and influence writing in regard to play story lines. This information will be useful for commentary in play about human laws, activities and viewpoints. Will also use information for when The Birds create their own city in the sky.
Freedom for Immigrants. “Detention statistics.” Published by Freedom for Immigrants. 6 MAY 2019. https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/detention-statistics.
Data will be used to describe the dire need of immigration reform and need to talk about issues in immigration detention and the wall as it pertains to the adaptation, "City of the Birds." This information will help to justify why these issues are important, why they are covered in the adaptation, and to persuade the urgency of creating a production that covers these issues.
Environmental Protection Agency. “Wastes.” Published by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. 29 March 2016.
https://archive.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/web/html/
Statistical data and information will be used about how much waste and pollution is
created by Americans in regard to the rest of the world. This will support the notion that there is an imminent need to present facts about climate change issues and deliver these messages through theatrical forms so that people will be able to listen and receive them.
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