Zachary Scalzo

About

In the theatrical world, few figures loom as large as the Ancient Greek Orestes—cursed, matricidal, heroic. But, despite or because of his fame, Orestes himself often eclipses and confuses what is said to have happened when he returned to Mycenae. Taking inspiration from one of Western theatre’s oldest stories, the Oresteia, this play considers the world around Orestes—his nursemaid, his sisters, and, the focus of the play, his ever-constant and often-silent companion Pylades.

Creating a new Greek tragedy in the Oresteia, this play asks what Pylades’ part was in reinstating Orestes as king and wonders what they both give up in the process. It starts with two boys in Phocis—the kingdom from which Pylades will later be exiled—and ends with to two men bound in a prophecy they helped to create but which threatens to keep them apart. Taking its title from its principal character, Pylades is part-tragedy and part-oracle, exploring the lengths we will go to for justice, for love, and for something that falls in between.

Production History

Staged Reading (Nov 2023)
University of Central Oklahoma (Edmond, OK)
Direction and dramaturgy by Dr. Annie Holt