RAFT OF THE MEDUSA
Director's Note
Tomorrow is not promised to anyone. For the characters in Joe Pintauro’s Raft of the Medusa, this is not just a platitude but also a reality. The AIDS epidemic in the 80’s and early 90’s was staggering. Not only where people suffering but they had to endure the stigma associated with HIV and AIDS. Medical science seemed to be dragging its feet or floundering in the dark while so many were dying. There seemed to be no end in sight.
Jerry: “We're all dying infected or not-“
Jimmy: “We're all living infected or not…”
The heart of this play for me is: no matter what is going on in your life, there is always a choice. You can throw yourself overboard…or fight and live. These characters are taking nothing for granted because there truly may not be a tomorrow for them. They bear their souls with pain, anger, joy, regret, and hope. I could only hope to be that brave in my life and live each day as if it were my last. To not take anything for granted is what these very human characters remind me. That today is a gift… and what will you do with this gift...
The painting:
The Raft of the Medusa (French: Le Radeau de la Méduse) is an oil painting of 1818–1819 by the French Romantic painter and lithographer Théodore Géricault (1791–1824). Completed when the artist was just 27, the work has become an icon of French Romanticism. At 491 cm × 716 cm (193.3 in × 282.3 in), it is an over-life-size painting that depicts a moment from the aftermath of the wreck of the French naval frigate Méduse, which ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania on July 5, 1816. At least 147 people were set adrift on a hurriedly constructed raft; all but 15 died in the 13 days before their rescue, and those who survived endured starvation, dehydration, cannibalism and madness. The event became an international scandal, in part because its cause was widely attributed to the incompetence of the French captain acting under the authority of the recently restored French monarchy.
“A recent example of same is his Raft of the Medusa, presented by the Secret Theatre — gloriously directed by Alberto Bonilla.”