Mission Statement
Tantalus Theatre Group creates profound, intelligent and magical theatre that seeks to incite transformative experiences in ways that are tangible, authentic and original. In performance, we invoke a spirit of adventure and risk taking, inviting our audience to explore the boundaries between theatre and life. We examine the potentials of our craft and ourselves to reach beyond our limitations and, along with our audience, redefine our relationship to the world. Tantalus Theatre Group serves the world we would live in, the world it is our duty to create.
Our Vision
The mythic figure Tantalus will spend his eternity enticed by food and drink he can never reach. He is a figure of dichotomy—a wise king who gave the power of magic and creation to mankind, but who was, himself, hopelessly mired in human passions and hungers. It is from this dual desire to capture on stage what is magical and what is human that our theater derives its strength. We set our sights high enough that they may never be achieved, but from this act of reaching we draw our power.
To this end, our work…- reaches beyond the theatre into the world.
- is immediate, honest, intelligent, wild, playful, and rigorous.
- has the freedom to experiment collaboratively in all areas of production, including design, music, environment, structure, and role in order to expand the realm of possibilities within performance.
- creates, through workshop, productions that are unique and wholly our own.
The Story of Tantalus
Tantalus, son of Zeus and king of the first city of mankind, was revered for his wisdom and audacity. Because of his kinship with Zeus, Tantalus was much favored among the gods and was often invited to dine with them on Olympus. But Tantalus proved to be a poor guest, unable to show restraint in the presence of the gods. Though they showed him many great favors, Tantalus always wanted more. With a loose tongue and a thieving hand, Tantalus continually abused his good fortune. He freely discussed with men the plans that he overheard at the gods’ table. On one occasion, he stole the divine ambrosia from Olympus and smuggled it back to his city for the people there to drink. Although this act of defiance brought the knowledge of magic and creation to humanity, it also awakened the ire of the gods.
Realizing that he had lost favor with the gods, Tantalus invited all of Olympus to a special banquet in which they were to be the honored guests. Perhaps as an act of supplication, or perhaps as a further act of defiance, Tantalus sacrificed his own son, murdering the boy and serving him as a stew to his divine guests. When the gods realized what had taken place, they were aghast. Immediately, they gave the boy his life and an ivory shoulder to replace the piece they had accidentally eaten and condemned Tantalus for his perversion.
Because his crimes had so often been ones of gluttony and greed, Tantalus was condemned upon his death to be submerged up to his neck in cool, sweet water. Above him hung vines of succulent, fragrant fruit. Whenever Tantalus bent to drink from the water, the pool receded until only parched earth remained at his feet; when he reached for the vines, the wind blew them just beyond his reach. And there he stands, eternally hungering and thirsting for that which is forever beyond his grasp.