NEW ANTINOUS STAGE PLAY PERFORMED IN LOS ANGELES

A new stage play about the power struggles between Christians and adherents of the religion of Antinous has been staged in Los Angeles.

The play ANTINOUS by actor/playwright Carolyn Almos was presented as a dramatic reading at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) over the weekend.

The play takes place in both the ancient and contemporary world with two plots that don't necessarily intersect. Almos says she was inspired to write the play because of the importance of the story of Antinous and Hadrian for modern times. 

Part of the play takes place in the ancient world with a group of Christians who are living in Antinoopolis, the city established at the spot on the Nile where Antinous drowned. 

The city is the center of the religion of Antinous and radical minority Christians are in despair over whether Christianity will ever have an impact on the world. 

The modern portion of the play is a mix of a comedy and platonic love story between a youth pastor and a young man and focuses on their male friendship.

In the contemporary story, Anthony is a teenage boy whose family still worships Antinous. He forges an unlikely friendship with a Presbyterian youth minister, a relationship which transforms and destroys them both. 

In the ancient plot, a group of radical fundamentalist Christians make comic attempts to bring down the wildly popular new cult of Antinous, with parallels to religious wars taking place today.