Family Mythology Key to Lookingglass' next season

Lookingglass Theatre heavyweights David Schwimmer, Laura Eason, J. Nicole Brooks and David Catlin will write and/or direct three world premieres with parenting themes during the 2009-10 season.

“We’re looking at Greek myths again, which is not that uncommon for us,” said David Catlin, artistic director of Lookingglass Theatre, as he explained the lineup of three world premieres that will comprise the company’s 2009-2010 subscription season. “But the real theme will be parenthood. And of course what always propels us is the need to dramatize stories we think need telling, whether for social, political or personal reasons.”

•  “FEDRA: QUEEN OF HAITI” (Sept. 30-Nov. 15, 2009): Based on the Phaedra myth, a tale that has been explored by such master dramatists as Euripides, Seneca and Racine, ensemble member J. Nicole Brooks (who created the galvanic “Black Diamond” a few seasons back), revisits the story of a queen who declares her love for her husband’s son from a previous marriage. Brooks imagines a somewhat futuristic Haiti — the island as it might have been had its revolution resulted in the country becoming a superpower, rather than one of the poorest and most destitute states in the world. And she has devised a story that puts notions of family, love and power up for grabs as the fury of Afrodite is unleashed on the empire. Laura Eason (“Around the World in 80 Days”) will direct.

•   “ICARUS” (Dec. 9, 2009-Jan. 24, 2010): Adapted and directed by David Catlin, this show — workshopped last year through a commission from the Getty Villa Theater Lab in Malibu, California — uses myth, scientific theory, visual metaphor, song and gravity-defying choreography to explore both the human desire to take flight, and the psychological need for a father to have his child succeed. Along with the story of Icarus and his father, Daedalus (who fashioned wings for his son), the show will evoke Leonardo da Vinci, the Wright Brothers and astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin.

•   “TRUST” (Mar. 3 -May 9, 2010): Written by David Schwimmer and Andy Bellin, and directed by Schwimmer, this original story asks the question: What price do we pay for intimate connections in an anonymous, digital world? Homing in on a young woman’s victimization by an Internet predator, it muses on a parent’s struggle to strike a balance between fostering freedom and exercising responsibility.

A summer show, very likely a remount of a past hit, will be announced later. Meanwhile, the company has budgeted conservatively, figuring, according to executive director Rachel Kraft, that “contributed income might be down as much as 30% due to the troubled economy.” The company also is involved in serious talks with several major regional theaters interested in mounting its hit production of “Around the World in 80 Days.”