Scene Three of CASSANDRA: AN ONGOING TRAGEDY focuses on being forced to flee one’s homeland. Ester escapes the horror that was the Holocaust, while Lupe escapes the violence of the prolonged civil war in El Salvador. Both the playwright, Ruth Cantrell, and the composer, Michael V. Ficocelli discuss how these characters’ two different situations brought about different connections in the words and the music.

Scene Two of CASSANDRA: AN ONGOING TRAGEDY, after Cassandra speaks of her being cursed by Apollo, brings us to the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and the school shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Playwright Ruth Cantrell crafted this scene of different tragedies of children in harm’s way, while composer Michael V. Ficocelli uses diverse musical references to underscore the tragedy and violence.

Scene One of CASSANDRA: AN ONGOING TRAGEDY deals with war – the Trojan War, the Vietnam War, and the war of terrorism. In Episode 2, playwright Ruth Cantrell discusses how three women, Hecuba, Kim, and Maryam, separated by time and geography suffer and face universal sufferings. Composer Michael V. Ficocelli explains the influence of global music on creating music for Vietnam and Pakistan.