Esptein Oratorio
or, A Modern Hymn to Demeter | Karen Malpede

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Poetic and darkly comic, this exposé of the “Epstein class” unfolds against the iconic mother-daughter myth of Demeter and Persephone. Hades presides over worlds both modern and mythic, while a male chorus speaks in language drawn directly from the Epstein files and mainstream media coverage. The victims’ stories are based on real accounts, while the fictional mother-daughter relationship mines the painful estrangement between women and the ways such ruptures can leave space for exploitation to flourish. Through a weave of myth and fact, the play confronts the trauma of sexual violence and imagines the possibility of societal transformation through the reparation of the bond between mothers and daughters.

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“This play reminds us that the trauma of abuse is generational and that to ignore it makes us all complicit: mothers, daughters, fathers, ‘friends.’ Everything in it is true and has happened and must not happen again.”

— Kathleen Chalfant, actor (Demeter, world premiere, October 1, 2026)

“Stunning. I love the various registers of the mother/daughter story, love the language, love the humor, love the form—how the different voices weave in and out. It really is very funny, a lot of the time!”

— Jan Clausen, poet

“By melding the modern story of the Epstein class with Greek and ancient archetypical traditions, we see, feel, hear how darkness such as we are being led by was not invented by anyone—Trump or Epstein—but is a spirit that can only be defeated with love and nature. Malpede’s play is an encouragement and a warning in climate and political chaos.”

— Nate Smith, founding director, Sixth Fest

“Karen Malpede’s Epstein Oratorio masterfully places the abuses revealed in the Epstein files against the backdrop of the myth of Persephone. Malpede’s poetic language exists in counterpoint to the actual language of the transcripts—and we are forced to face the stark realization that these horrors have existed over thousands of years. Ultimately, this powerful piece is a call for accountability—and the resolution of a tragedy.”

— Evangeline Morphos, producer

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Karen Malpede is the author of the memoir Last Radiance: Radical Lives, Bright Deaths and of twenty-two produced and published plays, including A Monster Has Stolen the Sun and Other Plays; Plays in Time: The Beekeeper’s Daughter, Prophecy, Another Life, Extreme Weather; and 4 by Malpede Plus an Intervention. Her plays have also appeared in edited collections, including A Century of Plays by American Women; Acts of War: Iraq & Afghanistan in Seven Plays; Staging 21st Century Tragedies; Women on the Verge: Seven Avant-Garde Plays; She Persisted; and Department of Dreams.

She cofounded Theater Three Collaborative, where, with her partner, George Bartenieff, she produced and directed many of her plays in New York, London, and Paris, including their Obie Award-winning adaptation of Victor Klemperer’s diaries, I Will Bear Witness. She is the editor of Women in Theater: Compassion & Hope and Three Works by the Open Theater, and the author of the influential theater history People’s Theater. She is the recipient of the McKnight National Playwrights Fellowship, a Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation writing grant, and a CAPS/NYFA playwriting fellowship.

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Book Details
Publication date: September 15, 2026
ISBN: 9798234189660
Format: Paperback
Pages: 38
Dimensions: 5.5" x 7.5" x 0.1"
Cover art: Marie-Louise Plum