by dick kerekes dickkerekes@yahoo.com
* this article is exclusive to eujacksonville.com
The College of Fine Arts of Jacksonville University presented Greek Playwright Aristophanes’ 2500 year old classic “Lysistrata” last weekend.
This is an after the fact review, but the JU production was outstanding in every way and certainly should be recorded for posterity.
There have been many translations of this play over the years, and I have seen several. Drue Robinson Hagen’s 2003 is one of the best I have seen, and certainly the most entertaining. She captured the spirit and intent of Aristophanes and its political message, yet made it very modern and familiar with bawdy humor written mostly in rhyming verse.
First presented in 411 BC in Athens, the courage and intelligent title character Lysistrata cooks up an ingenious way to end the perpetual war between Athens and Sparta. How? A sex strike!! Yes, the women will resist the amorous advances of their husbands until they are forced to resolve their differences and stop waging war. Sounds easy, but no, the women have sexual drives as strong and as wanting as their men.
Since 2003, or the start of America’s involvement in Iraq, this play has been very popular especially at college campus theaters.
The full house audience on the Thursday opening night was mainly students with a smattering of over 40s, that were probably facility or parents and of course, yours truly. The wild and sexy dialogue, much it very conversational, kept us in stitches and was so well delivered by this large cast. At one time I counted nineteen actors on the stage, with dialogue jumping from one to another like a ping pong ball, but the performers were line perfect and right on cue every time.
JU’s studio theater was used for this production, with audience members so close in the first row they could reach out and literally touch the participants.
I happened to be in the front row and had an empty seat next to me (one of the very few available) and a couple of the lively ladies sat next to me in the course of the action. Boy, I am lucky guy!!
Student Director Jay Deen, a JU senior, made his directing debut, and what a masterpiece he created with incredible stage movement involving all the actors. He unleashed the creative talents of Rodney Waldrup and Argie Mitra as costumers and what they came up with was eye popping and very revealing as well. The creations were inspired by illustrations in Dr. Suess books. Colleen Sharp’s set design was excellent and used curved platforms that looked like marble with columns with the open stage in front of the audience. Robbie Nelson’s talent paint brush added the final touches to the set. Samuel Smid & Jessie Monreno handled the all important props, and some stood out as exceptional, especially those having to do with human anatomy.
I am not sure any version of “Lysistrata” would fly in community theaters, unless as a black box production, but for the audience this played to, it was right on the mark and Ms. Hagan’s version certainly appears to contemporary college audiences. It was an intelligent rendition of a classic and I am sure even old Aristophanes who died in 380 BC would have approved.
Space does not permit commenting on each individual performance. The entire cast was truly inspired and performed exceptionally well.
The cast included: Rachel Hineman(Lysistrata), Ashley Adkins (Calonice), Caitlin Moran (Myrrhine), Clenton Hollinger (Lampito) Julia Sciarrotta (Ismenia), Shakira Ballantyne(Phoebe), Johnnie Bovain Jr (Magistrate of Athens) Lisa Wood (Alexis) Rafael Christian (Cinesias). Also in the cast were Alexander Miller, Jesse Moreno, Michael Coley, Jorge Chapa, Dax Dyer,Matthew Watson, Laura Peterson, Cecilia Vega, Emily Kraudel, Carline Clark, Zarena Leblanc, Annie Lorenzana, Byron Berthelot, Adam Walesiewicz, Robbie Nelson, Samuel Smid, Jason Dietz and Suzie Rogerson.
Since the show has closed, I guess it is alright to tell you the ending. This hilarious battle of the sexes, ends with a reunion of all, men, women and politicians. What did I learn from this play? Never under estimate the power of a women when they make up their minds! Amen brother!
I have now been to the JU Campus twice in the past month to see two excellent productions. I can hardly wait until the fall season to start and the exiting shows it will bring to the JU stages. Thanks JU for a most interesting and stimulating evening of theatre.
Article Published in the April 2008 Issue of EU Jacksonville
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