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Another day, another Portland theater production canceled thanks to the pandemic.
Imago Theatre has announced that its science-fiction play Lumen Odyssey (an original script by the company’s artistic directors, Jerry Mouawad and Carol Triffle) has been canceled due to COVID-19.
The trouble began last Saturday, when an unidentified cast member tested positive for COVID. Imago initially said it would only cancel the Sept. 10, 11 and 15 performances, but ultimately decided to cancel the entire run of the show (the company did not say if additional actors had tested positive).
In an email to patrons, Mouawad, Triffle and the rest of the company’s staff said people who purchased tickets for the play have three options: use them for an upcoming Imago show through 2023, receive a refund, or make a donation.
The email also offered some hope that the voyage of Lumen Odyssey, which opened Sept. 9, might not be over just yet: “The opening of this show received a very positive response and we are planning on reviving the production next season.”
Imago has previously described Lumen Odyssey as being set in “an allegorical realm incorporating existential inspection, spiritual redemption, and familial tensions as a mother and a daughter rocket to distant galaxies as they work to get closer to each other.”
In an interview released by Imago, Mouawad (who also directed the production) emphasized that the play is deliberately cryptic.
“It’s even evasive to me,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, but what I do know is what it should not be. I think that’s my role as a director: to find what it should not be and then what is left is the play.”