Written and Directed by Stephen Legawiec
April 2 - May 2, 1999
Fri-Sun at 8pm
Gascon Center Theater
8737 Washington Blvd, Culver CitySet, Costume Design: Stephen Legawiec
Stage Manager: Dawn Ostlund
Choreographer: Megan Reisel
Costume Design: Robert Velasquez
Mask design: Beckie Kravetz
Lighting design: Lief Gantvoort
Singing coach: Elizabeth Prescott
Cast
Damianus: Lance Guest
Estan : Dean Purvis
Triam: Michael Krawic
Ang: Bobby Nish
Kami: Ray Chang
Voo: Ogie Zulueta
Canstada: Nele Snoeck
Nurbu: Peter Choi
Chayla: Gwendoline Yeo
Tashi : Dawn Saito
Miyolangsangma: Constance Hsu
Lion Dancer / Priest: Gina Chai
Young Ang: Derek Delgado
Rimpoche: Muni Zano
Priest : Tim Gittings
Flutist: Charles Sharp
"Chomolungma is based on the tragic Everest disaster of May 1996, whose real-life drama of death and survival during an unexpected storm held the hearts of the world that spring. I wanted to treat the material theatrically, but felt that a docu-drama of the real people would be an insult to all who were touched by that tragedy. I mean, who was I? Still, that disaster made the world (and myself) ask the question, "what is it about men (and women) and mountains?" So I wrote a play about a mythic mountain tragedy, set in an unspecified time long ago. Never mind that mountain-climbing is a peculiar, European, 20th century institution. The mountain (and even mountain climbing) is a mythic symbol that has been with us since the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, 1400 b.c., arguably the oldest story that has been written down. At the end of the poem Gilgamesh scales the mountain to ask the sage Utnapishtum the secret to eternal life."- Stephen Legawiec
