Siren Song

This fifteen-minute experimental drama is based on two different true stories of “captivity” under water: the unsolved murder of young Mary Rogers in 19^th-century New York and the Russian sailors drowned in the recent Kursk submarine disaster. As the play opens, young Mary and the Russian sailor each, in their own isolated locations, begin to describe their existences and their environments. Interwoven with these evocations is the commentary of the young male Sports, rough-and-tumble single men who brag of masculinity, independence, and sexuality.

The Sports gossip about the deceased Mary, but their words also come to describe the buried Kursk submarine and the frightful pall of death wherever it roams. They ponder the facts until uncertainty becomes overwhelming, while those underwater seek more desperately to communicate their fate. Even in death, those in captivity retain their desire to speak and to ponder the mysteries they leave behind.

Play Structure:	1 Act: 15-minute play
Cast size:	5
Gender:	1 female, 4 male
Period:	The timelessness of death for Young Mary, the timelessness of anticipation for the Sailor, and the mid-19^th century for the Sports.
Location:	In between death and the deep blue sea.
Set:	A mostly bare stage.

Production History

Siren Song received its premiere production in the Mae West Fest at the Odd Duck Studio in Seattle, Washington, on July 19-22, 2001, and was supported by a Special Projects Grant from the King County Arts Commission. The Mae West Fest was produced by Theatre Babylon under Artistic Director Heidi Heimarck and Managing Director Sara Forsythe. The play was directed by Therese Diekhans, with the following cast:

Young Mary	Kristie Ann Foss
Sailor	Merritt E. Corliss
Sports	Michael Aliaga Thomas Carter Sarah Northe R. Nina Ruchirat