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Since then, while continuing to crank out his crosswords with partner Emily Cox, Rathvon has penned about 10 plays. One of those is "The Oracle," which the Gamut Theatre Group will present on Feb. 20-22 and 27-29 as part of the Harrisburg Shakespeare Festival in Strawberry Square.
"The Oracle," set in an unspecified time and place in ancient Greece, tells the story of a crooked priest named Ichthus who uses his mountain oracle to shake down travelers for money. However, his new priestess may have real prophetic gifts he doesn't appreciate. Meanwhile, Euros, an apparently-mad king is discovered raving on the road by a slave girl. When she brings Euros to the temple run by Ichthus, some fantastic things occur, including the king's fortune being told.
Rathvon said he was inspired to write this particular play by a historical story he read.
"I read an account [of] the original runner in Greece that the marathon is named for," he said. According to that account, the man was late in delivering an important military message. His excuse? He was delayed by a conversation with the god Pan.
That got Rathvon to thinking, "What did he see or think he saw? How did his belief system affect that?"
In penning the play, Rathvon synthesized certain aspects of Greek lore with the traditions of William Shakespeare's greatest works, then put his own unique spin on both.
"It's set in ancient Greece, but it breaks some rules," he said. "[And] theater has a great tradition of mad kings. But he's the maddest."
According to Rathvon, he's left it up to the audience to decide whether the events that befall that "mad king" at the Rathvon said he hopes to take time for some discussion sessions after performances of "The Oracle" to hear how different audience members interpreted what they saw.
"I'm curious about audience reaction because I'm hoping to have a laugh and a puzzle," he explained. "I'm trying to do three things with this piece. First, to make people laugh like loons. Second, I'm presenting a kind of puzzle. And third, I'm trying to update the iambic pentameter. I'm trying to make it snappy and easy to understand."
Rathvon said working with the Gamut Theatre Group to bring "The Oracle" to life has helped him to further polish the play.
"We're workshopping it," Rathvon, who also has a couple of walk-on parts in the production, said. "It's kind of changing shape."
After considering which local theatre group could best present one of his plays, Rathvon eventually settled on the Gamut group. However, he intended something completely different for them at the time - a new interpretation of Shakespeare's "King Lear" told from the perspective of the Fool. Ultimately, the necessary cast of 10-12 proved too large for the group to accommodate, so Rathvon created another play with them in mind.
"I wrote it specifically for that cast," he said. "I thought they were the best bet."
"The Oracle" is Rathvon's second play to hit the stage. The first, "Trapezium," was performed down in Orlando, Fla. The director of that play, who has some connections in the theater world, will be coming to see Rathvon's latest work, so he hopes "The Oracle" may be destined for even bigger stages.
However, playwriting is a fairly unstable line of work, so whether or not his new career takes off, Rathvon said he won't be quitting his crossword-puzzle-writing day job any time soon.
"I'll never rely on playwriting as a full-time career," he said. "[But] I'm always writing."
