The Myth of Izzy Icarus

In Greek mythology, Icarus is the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, who makes wings out of wax. Father and son fly away from the palace of King Minos but Icarus flies too close to the sun and his wings melt, and he falls into the ocean. Icarus rises again in a play entitled “Izzy Icarus Fell Off the World” by 15-year-old Aliza Goldstein of Jacksonville, Florida. Goldstein got the idea for her play from volunteering at the Mt. Herman Exceptional Student Center in Jacksonville, a center for students with developmental disabilities. Here is a summary of the plot:

Teenage Izzy is fascinated by birds. With beach season fading, he loves to stand on the sand, flap his arms, and watch the gulls take flight for winter. His curious movements have attracted the eye of budding photographer Dove, who waits poised with her camera, convinced he’s going to fly. “That’s why he’s called Izzy Icarus,” she says. “Like the character in Greek mythology.” When her classmate insists that Izzy, who has autism, is dreaming the impossible, Dove is determined to prove her wrong.

Goldstein won the 23rd annual VSA arts Playwright Discovery Award for her play, which will be performed on September 27th at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Icarus is often seen as a symbol of humans’ over-confidence in themselves and their abilities; of human hubris, the excessive pride that leads a Greek hero to his downfall in a tragic play (think of King Oedipus in Sophocles’ play: Oedipus is confident that he will find the culprit, the cause, behind the plague in his city, Thebes, but he is not expecting the guilty person to be himself). It will be interesting if and how Izzy in Goldstein’s play is able to fly—or is it possible that, flapping his arms, he thinks he is “flying” already?

I apologize to Goldstein for all this speculation about her play, which combines two of my main interests—-autism and Greek mythology. Maybe Icarus’ dreams seem too much out of this world—maybe it’s the task of us who prefer to stay on the ground to build the best wings, the best supports, to help our dreaming children attain the highest heights they can.