Wilde Stages Spotlight: Yesterday is Dead by Maria Chryssopoulos

“The age-old question that has haunted lesbians for decades arose this May in the Outhouse Theatre: Why are lesbians so sad? Playwright and actor Maria Chryssopoulos addresses this predicament in her excellent one woman show, Yesterday is Dead . The comedy grapples with cross-century themes of lesbians, sadness, and relationships. Written, performed, and produced by Maria Chryssopoulos, the play was originally written in 2023 for one of Chryssopoulos’ college drama classes. Ariel Ford directed and led the technical elements and Emma Martin headed marketing, bringing the show to Lavender Fest in Atlanta, Georgia in 2024 where the team received the Mellon Grant. At Lavender Fest, the team heard about Wilde Stages Festival and decided to bring the production across the Atlantic to Dublin. In the show, Chryssopoulos seamlessly transitions between the 1920s, modern day, and five different characters. The play begins with Ellen’s character, representing the modern lesbian, named after the original author of the manuscript, opening the show with the question: why are lesbians so sad? Ellen tells the story of Joel, an inexperienced and somewhat awkward lesbian from the 1920s. Joel goes to study music at Fairfield College and discovers her sexuality through her relationship with the effortlessly charming Pat. Throughout the play, Joel and Pat fall in and out of love. The audience witnesses the aftermath of Joel’s first love and the kinship she finds with other lesbians experiencing the same heartbreak. Ellen, the modern-day character, grapples with how despite advancements in LGBTQ+ rights over the past century, she still holds the same overwhelming sadness as Joel did, 100 years ago. Ellen eventually comes out to her parents and is met with her father asking “did this happen because I work too much?” The tragic parallel demonstrates to the audience that despite the efforts of the lesbians in the past to forge their own paths, modern day lesbians are still met with misunderstanding. The play is based on a manuscript written by Ellen Lois Frazer. Chryssopoulos discovered the manuscript in the historical archives at the University of Georgia and utilised dialogue from Frazer’s work in her production. The original manuscript follows a young woman going to college who explores her sexuality through her relationship with another student. Chryssopoulos honours Frazer’s work and poignantly focuses on plotlines and dialogues which ring true to modern lesbian audiences. She deals with themes of loneliness, loss, and family in a comedic manner. In the University Times interview with Chryssopoulos, she said she wanted to emphasise the diversity of the lesbian experience, evident through the characters such as the “baby gay” aka Joel; the alluring and experienced lesbian, Pat; the gender nonconforming lesbian, Mildred; and the closeted lesbian, Star. This diversity was importantly emphasised as well as the modern day parallels to present lesbian stereotypes. By the end of the play, most of the characters don’t get what they want, reflecting on the seemingly intrinsic sadness of lesbians and lesbian culture. As Chryssopoulos said, “Every single one of them still could not find that lament or that peace that they were looking for. It’s so crazy that we’ve existed in all of these different types forever.” Chryssopoulos later described in the interview that this is where one of the most important production elements came from. At the beginning and end of the play, an ominous voice repeats the phrase, “forever and farewell,” as the tone becomes progressively more sinister and overwhelming. This foreboding sense of threat and demise seems to be an undercurrent of lesbian sadness across centuries of sapphic artists and writers’ works, such as Ellen Lois Frazer and Chryssopoulos. When asked what she hoped the audience would take away from the show, Chryssopoulos explained how she wanted to uplift queer voices and simply portray lesbians as people with stories, just the same as straight people with their own love stories, challenges, and experiences. Elaborating more on the importance of queer theatre and stories, she said, “I cannot wait for the day that I do not have to explain my existence”. We discussed the plays featured this year at Wilde Stages and appreciated the diversity of stories, some concerning queer oppression and liberation, and others, such as The Enhanced Venus Experiment, science fiction stories which happen to feature sapphic characters. Chryssopoulos aptly described the need for stories such as her own which shed light on queer-specific challenges, written in the hope of fostering community among LGBTQ+ people and simultaneously reaching non-queer audiences. Yesterday is Dead is powerful, heartbreaking, and incredibly well done. Chryssopoulos’s ability to take on multiple roles without there ever being a question of which character she is performing as is extremely impressive. The way she weaves together the past and the present, while including historical anecdotes, creates an awe-inspiring account of lesbianism thro ughout the decades. To see more of her work, Chryssopoulos is active in the world of theatre on Instagram @ marooo.chrys.

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