Cassandra Speaks. Will We Listen?

PRELIMINARIES ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

November 10, 2025

Mosaic Dance Theater Company announces a world premiere production of CASSANDRA: AN ONGOING TRAGEDY by award-winning playwright Ruth Cantrell, scheduled for October 2026 in Montclair, NJ. As you recall from Greek mythology, Cassandra was a princess of Troy. She was blessed with the gift of prophecy by the god Apollo, but when she spurned his sexual advances, he turned her gift into a curse. Cassandra’s prophecies would be accurate, but no one would believe her. She begged the Trojans not to accept the fantastic wooden horse – a gift from the Achaeans (whom we call the Greeks). Unfortunately, the Trojans saw nothing wrong with the offering, and so brought it inside the city walls. The Greeks hidden inside the horse opened the city’s gates in the dead of night, and consequently the magnificent city of Troy was destroyed, its men and boys slaughtered, and its women sent as slaves and concubines to the victorious Achaeans.

Cassandra (Anna Starr) begs the Trojan Women (Nina Brewton, Kendra Dushac McCarthy, Sara Grassi, Morgiana Celeste Varricchio) not to accept the Trojan Horse. From MDTC's production of TROY: WOMEN & WAR. Photo by Gary Heller.

CASSANDRA: AN ONGOING TRAGEDY is an abstract theatrical project, rich with emotional and social relevance. It presents an opportunity to jump from ancient to modern times -- from ancient Greece to the world of recent years -- and merge them. Scenes and tragedies change from mythological to historical, to imagined – modern tragedies that scream in the headlines, then quickly become yesterday’s news. CASSANDRA depicts the eternal existence of hate and evil in these different appearances and traces the origins to the myth of Pandora’s box. We see what the doomed Cassandra sees, and how humanity cannot refrain from repeating the evils brought about by hate. Directed by Morgiana Celeste Varricchio, Mosaic’s Producing Artistic Director, the stories told in this piece will be presented on stage through live spoken word and dance, with choreography by Samara Adell, the Company’s Artistic Director for Dance. CASSANDRA also features a commissioned score of original music by composer Michael V. Ficocelli. 

AND NOW THE BACKSTORY

Ruth and I go back a long way, to our days at the Dallas Theater Center (DTC). We shared time together on stage and off.

You see the two of us here in a backstage photo from DTC's production of SCAPINO!

Time passes, friends move away and lose touch. Until 2019. I went back to Dallas for a weekend celebration of Paul Baker, the theater genius whose philosophy guided us at DTC, and shaped us into the artists we are today. There was Ruth. The connection was reforged.

Ruth and Morgiana Celeste in 2019.

Fast forward. In 2022, MDTC produced TROY: WOMEN & WAR, our dance exploration of the Trojan War from the perspective of the women. In spring of 2023, Ruth sent me her script for CASSANDRA. I read it and loved it, thinking about all the possibilities should it be expanded by adding dance. I shared the script with Samara who was equally enthusiastic. But then, other projects took priority. CASSANDRA’S voice, meanwhile, was never silent. Then in November 2024, the time was right. I contacted Ruth, told her my thoughts about how her work was a good fit for Mosaic. Ruth loved the idea of adding dance, and agreed with me that we needed an original score. And that’s how Mike Ficocelli became involved.

And that brings you up to speed. The script is ready for rehearsals. Music is being composed. There will be much more to say about CASSANDRA: AN ONGOING TRAGEDY in the months ahead, and I’ll certainly keep you informed. 2026, here we come! --- Morgiana Celeste Varricchio