Coming in 2025: Metra the *PODCAST!*
Rebecca Ana Peña as Aglaphonos, Corinna Schulenburg as Samantha, Cherrye J. Davis as Cori, and Richard B. Watson as Tyler in the Flux Theatre Ensemble production of Metra. Photo by Isaiah Tanenbaum Theatrical Photography.
Metra: A Climate Revolution with Songs
“Hope is an embrace of the unknown…Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency.”
~ Rebecca Solnit.
Creators: Emily Hartford (book; director) and Ned Hartford (book, music, lyrics)
The Origin Story: Metra is a radical adaptation of a myth from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In the original myth of “Erysicthon,” a King destroys a sacred grove, and then is cursed by the goddess Ceres with unquenchable hunger. He sells off his entire kingdom for food until there's nothing left to sell...except his daughter, Metra.
The World: 2043. Shit’s bad. Despite lip service to climate action, the fossil fuel industry continues to thrive. The rich continue to ignore it, isolated in air-conditioned Bubble communities and reaping the benefits of disaster capitalism. But in a roadside bar on the Outside, a group of revolutionaries is about to demand a new story.
The world premiere of Metra was produced by Flux Theatre Ensemble at Abrons Arts Center’s Experimental Theatre
By: Emily and Ned Hartford, with songs by Ned Hartford
Directed by: Emily Hartford
Ensemble: Cherrye J. Davis, Ned Hartford, Rebecca Ana Peña, Corinna Schulenburg, Richard B. Watson
Scenic Design: Will Lowry
Costume Design: Raphael Regan
Lighting Design: Kia Rogers
Sound Design: Nathanael Brown
Props Design: julian veronica
Gore Design: Stephanie Cox-Williams
Climate Action Designer: Jem Pickard
Associate Costume Designer: Maia Soltis
Stage Manager: Jodi Witherell
ASM: Allison Cachay Narva
Casting Director: Judy Bowman, CSA
Production Manager: Mackenzie Trowbridge
Technical Director: Spencer Zeitel
Wardrobe Assistant: Sophie Miller
Image Co-Designers: Corey Allen and Jason Tseng
Production Photographer: Isaiah Tanenbaum
Press Representation: Emily Owens PR
Lead Producer: Heather Cohn
Book Contributor: Corinna Schulenburg
”Cascade” Sound Design: Ned Hartford
“Climate change is a test of whether “the big brain” was a good adaptation or not. It can get us In a lot of trouble and now we’ll find out if it can get us out of that trouble. My guess is that the answer lies less in the size of the brain than in size of the heart it’s attached to. There are deep questions about human solidarity that we are going to answer, one way or the other, in the next few years.”