The Ohio Northern University Department of Theatre Arts will present the Greek comedy “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 in the Freed Center for the Performing Arts.
Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, with matinee performances at 2 p.m. on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2.
The play pushes boundaries at every turn of the plot and speaks truths to the audience.
“Lysistrata” is about an Athenian woman fed up with war who convinces the women of Greece to stage a sex-strike to get the menfolk to accomplish a truce. The play is a comic tale with serious political implications, which fits the timing of the current election season.
Tickets can be purchased through the Freed Center’s website at www.onu.edu/freed or through the Freed Center box office at 419-772-1900. Adult tickets are $20, faculty tickets are $15, senior tickets are $10, and student tickets are $5.
Joan Robbins, ONU dramaturge and assistant professor of theatre arts, is directing the play. “I have breathed contemporary life into this ancient classic, which in its day was a topical, political satire,” Robbins said. “So to make it work, we have created an artistic mashup of ancient Greece and contemporary America, creating correspondences between the ancient story and our own political situation, poised as we are, only weeks away from one of the most theatrical election seasons in living history.”
The production also has a contemporary twist. Original music and choreography have been added to re-imagine the choral components of the play in a pop music and dance context. Stephen Coakley, a sophomore musical theatre student from Leesburg, Va., has created the original score of music, and Josh Heard, a senior musical theatre student from Gibsonburg, Ohio, has created the choreography for the show.
