The San Marin advanced drama class performed The Odyssey, Oedipus, and others or Greek Story Theatre, in four shows on the weekend of November 3rd. The playwrights Stacey Coates and Rosalind Flynn have adapted these well loved stories and made them comical.
After their first performance the cast and crew held a question and answer session with the audience. Once the performance ended, a large majority of the audience stayed and asked questions.
The play was directed by Linda Kislingbury who thought the play was more difficult than she expected, but she was elated after their first performance and proud of her students’ work.
Kislingbury said, “These stories and plays are a core part of most high school curriculums. What a great way to get students interested in the old classics by adding a large chorus who raps, sings and even does a little cheerleading.”
Senior Beau Thompson, is one of the two student directors who has been in the drama program for the past three years. Thompson said, “This is the first play I’ve directed, I think that the play is very different from anything else I’ve been in because we are teaching history in comedic way.”
Sophomore Lauren Hartley is a first year student of the drama program and played Athena. Hartley spoke about the relation between the original Greek tragedies and the comedic play that, “The play has all the characters and it follows the basic storyline but it puts it in a way that’s understandable for people who’ve never read it or don’t understand it.”
For Sophomore Moira and Senior Joy Aivaliotis, this play was a bonding experience since they played the characters Ismene and Antigone.
Moira said, “My favorite thing is that my sister plays Antigone and I play Ismene, they are sisters so I think it’s really fun that we get to play sisters in real life and in the play.”
The play was a success to those who were in it, even though they had some rough rehearsals in the beginning.
“I think overall we had better shows than I had expected,” Hartley said.
