Kagan wrote The Deermaiden in the 1980s, a play describing ancient women being called into the forest to preserve their teachings, while revealing contemporary women’s stories of yearning for nature’s wisdom.  In 2020 during self-isolation, Kagan reimagined this project as a community-sourced, multimedia video/performance. Nearly 30 artists from across the world participated through moving video testimony and spoken word audio segments.

The Deermaiden is a feminist interpretation of Aeschylus’ play, The Oresteia Trilogy. In this story the goddess Athena finds Orestes innocent of murdering his mother, Clytemnestra, because Athena was born from Zeus’ thigh. Kagan interprets this verdict as symbolically marking the moment when patriarchy subsumed the matriarchal voice.  

The Deermaiden says this is the moment when the oracles and wise women must come out of hiding in the forest to share their wisdom and teachings.