"AfterTalk: A Play By Chard deNiord" Presented at Next Stage Arts

A 4,000-year-old love story comes to life at Next Stage Arts with poetry, music, movement and visual art in the premiere of "AfterTalk: A play by Chard deNiord." The play takes place in the year 4,000 B.C.E. (before the Common Era) when Inanna, Goddess of Fertility, and Dumuzi, God of Agriculture and date palms, meet one last time at the threshold between life and death to illuminate their timelessness story of love, power, memory and human connection. Written by award-winning poet and former Vermont Poet Laureate (2015-19) Chard deNiord, "AfterTalk" unfolds as a lyrical dialogue between Inanna and Dumuzi, as they revisit both the universal and unique nature of their love that has inspired enduring poetry and myth throughout history. Most notably "The Song of Solomon" which borrows imagery, symbols and erotic eloquence. The question that both haunts and inspires them is whether their bond will endure or dissolve forever. The play, an apocryphal take on the myth of Inanna and Dumuzi, draws inspiration from the 4,000-year-old Sumerian antiphonal poem about the couple's courtship and marriage. It was discovered on clay tablets during an archeological dig in the ruins of Nippur, Sumeria in 1947 and remains still as the oldest known extant poetic text in all of literature. When reached by phone at his home in Westminster West, Vt., deNiord told The Keene Sentinel the inspiration for this play came from teaching and rereading the poem, along with Herbert Mason's translation of "The Epic of Gilgamesh." "Gilgamesh has been a foundation for my understanding of literature in general and both an unconscious and conscious inspiration for my play. I did feel at times like I was transcribing as much as writing. I didn't really know I was writing a play until it quite suddenly announced itself to me as a play, after I had finished the last stanza. So, I guess I felt like I was channeling them," deNiord says. He explains, "Dumuzi was an actual king in ancient Sumeria, while Inanna was known only as the Goddess of Fertility, so readers of the myth can only imagine the actual woman who inspired the author's erotic and marital love poetry." "I taught English and Western Civilization from 2000 to 2022 at Providence College, so I had to study ancient history closely in order to teach it. The text is a series of poems that work as dialogue," deNiord says. When asked what he hopes the audience will take away from the play, deNiord says," "I hope they will take away exactly why this myth is a timeless story. It's as universal today as it was 2,000 years ago because of its enormous humanity with the themes of love, loss and imminent disappearance. They are on the threshold of life and death in the play. The stage is that last stage." "I hope they (the actors) will convey the cathartic, moving, erotic conversation they have with each other before they disappear for good into the underwolrd...." deNiord adds. deNiord taught comparative religion and philosophy at the Putney School for a decade and then taught creative writing and English for 23 years at Providence College before he retired as a professor emeritus in 2020. When asked how Vermont has impacted his craft, deNiord replies, "Vermont is indeed a brave little state that has inspired me poetically and culturally. I feel blessed to have moved here in 1989, raised my family here and honored to (have served) as the State's poet laureate." Vermont artists featured in the production include: actors Adrienne Major and David Zucker, with contributions from cellist Eugene Friesen, visual artist Eric Aho, choreographer Alison Mott, lighting and sound designer Francesca Bourgault, production manager Jenny Holan and director Eric Bass. IF YOU GO: WHAT: "AfterTalk: A Play by Chard deNiord," a new work of poetic theater that merges ancient mythology with contemporary artistry. WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. WHERE: Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, Putney, Vt. TICKETS: $20 general admission; $10 students MORE INFO: www.nextstagearts.org www.charddeniord.com/