ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the work of Rhodessa Jones’ Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women/HIV Circle, which has often used ancient myth as the basis of modern productions. Jones works with incarcerated women in San Francisco, Johannesburg, South Africa and elsewhere; she asks the women to respond to the ancient stories and to talk about their own lives in relation to them. In Food Taboos, Jones asked how incarcerated women see their own journey to the Underworld and how they relate to Demeter-Persephone. Slouching towards Armageddon takes up the Pandora myth as a framework for analyzing contemporary race relations. In the end, the chapter asks how much societal change can result from individual projects like this one.
