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Ithaka by Andrea Stolowitz

Winner of the Jessie Richardson Award for Best Supporting Actress, Small Theatre, to Yoshié Bancroft's role as Evie and Pixie

Ithaka explores PTSD with truth... and cats

“So believable is Lanie, an ex-marine and Ithaka’s main character, it’s hard to believe Portland playwright Andrea Stolowitz didn’t serve in the armed services in Afghanistan. This is a result of the taut, crisp writing, thorough research and actor Stefania Indelicato’s fully committed performance. Hands clenching, eyes wild, Indelicato doesn’t simply walk the stage, she shreds it in her work boots. She’s not only emotionally into it but she’s physically perfect: tall, strong, and rangy with dark, curly hair yanked back into a ponytail. Like a festering sliver, Indelicato gets so deep under Lanie’s skin it will be a wonder if she doesn’t suffer post-traumatic stress disorder when the show closes. We all know about PTSD or we think we do. And while we might think it’s a relatively new disorder, just ask Odysseus whose return to Ithaka was fraught with obstacles. And if we think we’ve heard it all before, Odysseus (Brent Hirose) sets us straight: we don’t know what war is like unless we were there.​ Directed by Jessica Anne Nelson (artistic director of Excavation Theatre) and co-produced by dream of passion productions, Ithaka has the ring of truth. That core question is still rattling around in my head: how do you reconcile a decision you made that had a fatal outcome? Most of us pray we’re never put in that position." -- on the scene, Jo Ledingham

Ithaka was a theatrical Canadian Premiere about a Marine Captain, Elaine Edwards, who has just returned from her latest tour in Afghanistan but this time things are different - home doesn’t feel right and nothing makes sense. After a blow up fight with her husband propels her to skip town, she undertakes an Odyssean journey through the American landscape battling her monsters, trying to find her way home.

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Cast:

Elaine “Lanie” Edwards: Stefania Indelicato

Bill Edwards: Adam Lolacher

Evie/Pixie: Yoshié Bancroft

EM Richardson: Desiree Zurowski

Odysseus/Jacob: Brent Hirose

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Creative Team:

Set & Costume Designer: Rafaella Rabinovich

Sound Designer: David Cowling

Lighting Designer: Sara Smith

Stage Manager: Tanya Schwaerzle

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PRESS

Excavation Theatre and dream of passion productions presents “Ithaka”

"Both the production and the performers show their strengths in the script’s dialogues, in which relationships are created, remembered, and blown up (a favourite scene of mine is a particularly heated exchange between Lanie and her civilian husband Bill, played by Adam Lolacher). One senses that the actors are truly listening to each other, even if their characters (sometimes) are not. As the audience began to applaud the conclusion of the play, the lights came up to reveal several people wiping their eyes, and I overheard a woman in the bathroom tell another woman in line that she thought the show was “amazing”. At the end of the day, it is the stories we tell and hear that move us, and that remain with us long after we’ve left the theatre. The story of Ithaka is important, compelling, and passionately told." -- NiftyNotCool, Lauren Kresowaty

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TALKING MILITARY WOMEN, PTSD, AND MAKING A PLAY WITH THE LADIES OF ITHAKA

"The military is something we don’t talk extensively about in Canada, and even more so, the topic of women in the military. In exciting preparation for the upcoming play Ithaka about precisely those things, director Jessica Anne Nelson and artistic director and cast member Stefania Indelicato chatted with me about women in the army, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and producing a play about an unfamiliar subject..." -- Her Campus, Li Charmaine Anne

To read more of the interview, click HERE

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Take a trip to “Ithaka” on Stage

"Opening in one week at the Havana Theatre, Ithaka, is a new play by Andrea Stolowitz, directed by Jessica Anne Nelson. Co-produced by dream of passion productions and Excavation Theatre, the Canadian Premiere performance runs, May 3-7 and 10-14, 2016 at the intimate Commercial Drive stage. Ithaka is about a Marine Captain, Elaine Edwards, who has just returned from her latest tour in Afghanistan but this time things are different – home doesn’t feel right and nothing makes sense. After a blow up fight with her husband propels her to skip town, she undertakes an Odyssean journey through the American landscape battling her monsters, trying to find her way home..." -- On the List, Jay Minter

To read more of the preview, click HERE

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