The Oedipus Project premiered on Zoom on May 7, 2020.

Theater of War productions is an acclaimed social impact company that has been working at the intersection of public health and social justice for over 15 years. The company collaborates with leading film, theater, and television actors to present dramatic readings of seminal texts, culminating in guided audience discussions aimed at breaking down stigmas fostering empathy, compassion, and a deeper understanding of complex issues.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions placed upon public gatherings, the company retooled in April of 2020 to produce dynamic, online events on Zoom’s webinar platform. The goal was to create free, easily accessible opportunities for people to convene and engage in healing, constructive dialogue about a range of topics that had been accelerated or exacerbated by the pandemic, including mental health, isolation, police violence, homelessness, healthcare inequality, incarceration, racism, and the unique challenges faced by frontline medical professionals.

The Oedipus Project was the first online event offered by Theater of War Productions on Zoom. The premiere featured Oscar Isaac, Frances McDormand, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Frankie Faison, David Strathairn, Marjolaine Goldsmith, Glenn Davis, and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams performing Sophocles' Oedipus the King as a catalyst for a powerful, facilitated conversation about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon diverse communities throughout the United States and the world. Sophocles’ play is a timeless story of arrogant leadership, ignored prophecy, and a pestilence that ravages the city of Thebes. At the time that it was first performed, in 429 BC, the audience would have been reeling in the wake of a plague and its economic, political, and social aftermath. Seen through this lens, Oedipus the King seems as relevant now as it was in its own time.

The premiere of The Oedipus Project was attended by more than 15,000 people from more than 40 countries who, at the height of the global lockdown, were hungry for community and connection. Since then, Theater of War Productions has presented more than 100 online events, reaching more than 300,000 people from more than 100 countries, spanning seven continents. This paradigm-shifting use of technology, strategized by Marjolaine Goldsmith, in service of direct, unmediated dialogue—across borders and boundaries—has been nothing short of revolutionary for the company and its ability to touch people all over the world and lift them out of isolation.

Translated, Directed, and Facilitated by Bryan Doerries.
Produced by Marjolaine Goldsmith.

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