Fall Play Medea Opens
Neylan Alper
Eight columns ring the stage, lit up by blue lights. The overhead lights flicker on and off as the conversations die down. The auditorium is dark and quiet, except for the faint creaks on stage as the actors take their places. The production is starting.
This fall, the T.C. Theatre Department brought to life the Greek tragedy Medea. The play follows Medea, a former princess, and how she copes with her husband of over ten years leaving her for another princess.
“The theatre department hasn’t done a Greek play since I’ve been here,” said Hope Bachman-Miller, Executive and Technical Director for the show. “It was about time.”
The show was adapted by the Theater Department to make it more accessible and relevant to today.
“So much is adaptable in this play,” Bachman-Miller said. “The story of the lengths to which Medea goes to punish the man who spurned her is the stuff of Lifetime Television.”
Some things about the play had to be changed to enable the audience to understand.
“Euripides relied on his audience being familiar with the Myth of Medea and Jason, and of Jason’s quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece,” Bachman-Miller said. The cast solved the problem by including a choreographed prologue narrated by a Greek chorus, shown as the Nine Muses in the production. Later in the play, the Muses serve as Medea’s neighbors and confidants as she reveals her plan to get back at Jason, her husband.
“[Medea] shows that women can be the heroines, no matter their intentions,” said freshman Lily Fanning, cast as Medea’s Child in the production. “It does a great job of empowering women.”
“[Medea] lets women tell the story,” said Bachman-Miller.
The show has feminist undertones and also raises questions about good and evil. The audience was captivated by these themes and the dialogue that displayed them. Certain lines elicited “oohs” from viewers.
Not only was the show a joy for the viewers, it was a joy for the cast members.
“This play was one of the best experiences of my life,” Fanning said. “I got to meet amazing people and do some things I never thought I would get to do.”
The play was taxing on the cast members as well.
“It was really busy for [Nikolai],” said T.C. freshman Deanna Kosinski, sibling of Nikolai Kosinski, a cast member. “He was up really late… he would come home [from rehearsal] and still have homework to do.”
The actors were not the only stars. The ushers, backstage crew, and other roles helped the show go on.
“[Being a stage crew member] is very interesting, depending on the show,” said Carleigh Rockett, T.C. junior and stage crew member.
The show, running 80 minutes, opened on November 1 and closed November 9.
