By Shannon Savage
Citizen Staff Writer
What do Greek gods, Jerry Springer and trailer parks have in common? For one Sacramento author, everything.
Natalia Mercado, 29, has redesigned the classic Greek god tale into a modern day comedy called “Zeus & Hera, The Later Years.”
The screenplay throws Greek gods Zeus and Hera into the 21st century where they live in a trailer park in Bakersfield. The pair continually fight over Zeus’ infidelity and the trials they face with a comedic twist.
“It was just a funny idea,” said Mercado, who grew up in Bakersfield. “All the gods are in it. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, works at the local strip club. Zeus is a welder; you know the whole lightning bolt thing. Hera works at Wal-Mart.”
Mercado, an English and journalism teacher at Luther Burbank High School, thought of the idea years ago while watching a talk show.
“There was this country man with one tooth and these two women were fighting over him,” Mercado said. “And I thought why would women ever do that? Then it came to me, it’s history, it’s epic. Zeus was constantly cheating on Hera but she never did anything to him, she would (hurt) the women he was with.”
After taking a summer short film writing class in Fresno, she had the idea down on paper.
“I’ve always loved to write but I had been focusing on my first few years of teaching,” Mercado said. “Without that summer class I don’t think I could have gotten it out that fast.”
Growing up in Bakersfield helped a lot with writing the screenplay, Mercado said. But so did tapping into her unknown love of country music. Strong female singers like Gretchen Wilson helped her get into the Hera character.
“I just started listening to it and I got really inspired,” Mercado said.
With a degree in English literature and an extensive background in Greek mythology, the story seemed to flow out of Mercado.
“It just all came together in this screenplay,” Mercado said. “A lot of different influences helped me create the idea.”
Although the screenplay was meant to be a short 30-minute film, Mercado said she is planning to readapt it to become a stage play.
“You get to talk a lot more in a stage play,” Mercado said. “But in a movie a lot of the story is told in the action and the pictures. You can just switch from scene to scene. In a play it is harder to change sets and do flashbacks.”
Eventually when she can find the financial backing Mercado said she would still like to make the screenplay into a short film.
But before the screenplay is revamped, Mercado will be holding a reading July 6.
“This is kind of the first step, getting it out into the public and getting some buzz going,” Mercado said.
The staged reading will be performed in an informal setting by actors.
“They’re going to be in character and put on a show but there won’t be any props or settings,” Mercado said. “But other then that they are going to be doing a full blow performance.”
The reading will be at La Raza Galeria Posada, a gallery committed to Latino and Native American art although Mercado’s screenplay is not about Latinos.
“I’m breaking the stereotype that we have to write about ourselves,” Mercado said. “I get to write about anything I want.”
In the past Mercado did a reading in Fresno during her film class.
“I was so nervous,” Mercado said. “I wound up adding something to the script where Hera called Zeus sparky as a pet name. I kept thinking why did I add that, it ruins it. I was over here having a Woody Allen moment. But people laughed the most at that line.”
Although she has already had one successful reading, she is looking toward having another.
“I think it’s just going to be a lot of fun,” Mercado said. “If (people) are interested at all in theatre, film, mythology or even country music they’re going to enjoy the reading. But I wrote it so you can enjoy it no matter what. It’s not high brow or low brow.”
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