Live from Mount Olympus to make a return in 2022

The Onassis Foundation and the TRAX from PRX, a podcast network for tweens, are pleased to announce that Brooklyn theatre company the TEAM, including directors Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown; Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812) and Zhailon Levingston (upcoming: Chicken & Biscuits on Broadway) will return for a second season of the acclaimed podcast Live from Mount Olympus in February 2022.

Live from Mount Olympus combines the magic of audio storytelling and contemporary theatre with the power of Greek myth. Season 1, narrated by André De Shields as Hermes, presented the story of Perseus. The Season 2 story, cast, and full creative team are yet to be revealed.

To tide fans over in the meantime, beginning today, the Onassis Foundation and TRAX will present an ongoing series of new, bite-size audio stories called “mythlets” that explore the backgrounds to Greek myths. The mini-episodes will be released once per month until the premiere of season 2, for free, via the podcast. The first of these, produced by Peabody-Award winning Live from Mount Olympus creator Julie Burstein and producer Tessa Zitter, is about the Adamantine Sword that Hermes gives to Perseus, an object central to an episode from season 1.

Live from Mount Olympus is executive produced by Karen Brooks Hopkins, senior advisor of Onassis USA, who served as President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) from 1999 to 2015; and produced by Julie Burstein, creator of public radio’s Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen. The podcast is also produced in partnership with the TEAM. Numerous actors from the TEAM will continue to perform in the podcast this season.

The first season of Live from Mount Olympus, released earlier this year, garnered vast praise. In a Critic’s Pick review for The New York Times, Maya Phillips called the podcast “delightful” and wrote, “Between the rivalries and the affairs, it’s everything tweens catch between the morning bell and sixth period, with the added bonus of fantastical landscapes and magical happenings. But there is also heft to these stories.” Live from Mount Olympus appeared on New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix as “brilliant”; was included by WIRED as one of the “Best Podcasts for Kids”; and was featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and WNYC’s “All of It with Alison Stewart.” In addition, the show was nominated for a 2021 Webby Award for Best Limited-Series or Special Podcast - Scripted (Fiction), alongside podcasts from HBO, Comedy Central, and the BBC.

Season 1 of Live from Mount Olympus launched in February 2021 and is available free on-demand across podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher, and online at TRAX.fm. For more information, please visit onassis.link/olympus.

Major funding for TRAX is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.