The story of the Trojan War is familiar to those who have read Homer's Iliad or seen Hollywood's action-packed Troy. While the epic poem and film depicted warriors, neither gave the Greek women characters center stage.
The Trojan Women, an Ohio University School of Theater production opening at 8 tonight, depicts the aftermath of the Trojan War from the Greek women's perspective. The play, a contemporary adaptation written by Ellen McLaughlin from Euripides' classic of the same name, begins on a beach outside Troy.
It's very desolate. You know something awful has happened. You see the skeleton of a building that's been bombed or burned
and then you see all the women lying on the ground waiting for ships. ... said Director Rebecca VerNooy, who is an assistant professor of theater.
Cast member Anna Simis, a senior studying theater performance, said the women are waiting for their fates, which usually include a life of displacement and slavery.
Simis plays one of the six Trojan women in the chorus who react to the other female characters as they tell their stories.
In addition to the dialogue, human sounds are incorporated into the production to complement the language and emotions.
Sound designer Lowell Jacobs, a professor in the School of Theater, said he recorded the actresses singing, the director breathing and even the director's baby crying for the sound mixes in the play.
VerNooy said she hopes the production will help the audience remember current wars.
There are people who are much less fortunate than we are sitting here in Athens and this type of thing
this annihilation and loss
happens on a daily basis probably in the majority of people's lives in the world
VerNooy said.
Simis, who comes from a military family, said that the results of war have sometimes been forgotten in the U.S.
It's easy to forget that it's not soldiers on a battlefield somewhere away from the city. It's in the city. It's women and children being bombed every day and being driven out of their homes and living as refugees. ... They have no control over their fates and their lives
Simis said.
VerNooy said the play will be very dark and devastating, but her challenge as a director will be to make the audience feel uplifted at the end.
There's always beauty and there's always hope no matter what
VerNooy said.
mk369507@ohiou.edu
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