Classic Tragedy Captures Modern Issues

BY VERONICA STRICKLER
SEP. 20, 2007

War. Torture. Intolerance. Love. Terror.

It isn't a breaking news report on the situation in Iraq. It's Euripedes' “The Trojan Women,” part of the Social Justice Series presented by Miami University's School of Fine Arts.

The play, which debuts on Oct. 4 in the Gates-Abegglen Theatre at the Center for Performing Arts, tells the story of four Trojan women after their city has fallen in battle against the Greeks. Surrounded by torture, intolerance and violence, the women are faced with enslavement and death as their families are torn apart.

Such a serious topic, together with a script first produced in 415 B.C., proved daunting for the cast of “Women” – which is completely composed of Miami students.

"I think there was more fear at least starting out -- than anything else," Assistant Director Nicole Wilder said. "Classic texts tend to be a little bit dense. You know, there's a lot of monologues, a lot of narrative. Modern audiences aren't necessarily used to watching that. So the actors are feeling the pressure of how to keep the audience engaged."

Wilder herself edited the script for the Miami production, cutting and interweaving many of the long monologues characteristic of classical plays to seem more like modern realistic dialogue.

"I think you need to keep common sentiment in mind if you're trying to make a point," Wilder said. "I think it's a strategic choice that we made to make it a little more accessible."

William Doan, associate dean of the School of Fine Arts and professor in the Department of Theatre at Miami, is one of many educators trying to impart what they see as the enduring value of classical works upon their students.

"We've started prepping them for ‘Trojan Women’," says Doan, "and started talking about theater and social action, and the difference between theater as art and social drama -- the ways in which people can use theater as a way to interpret what's happening in society. So far I'm impressed not only with the ability but with the willingness of these students to kind of go along for the ride and try this out."

But while Director Bekka Eaton has allowed alterations to the script and let her crew draw on modern influences for inspiration (the costumes in “The Trojan Women” are heavily influenced by the “Star Wars” films), she has striven to maintain the classical spirit of the play.

Eaton brought in language and movement specialists to do intensive workshops with the actors in an effort to help them connect with their roles mentally and physically. Furthermore, the set -- which is meant to resemble harsh, quarried rock -- was deliberately designed to pose a challenge to the cast.

"It's big," Wilder said. "In a play like this we're trying to really get them to connect physically to their body. Otherwise you start memorizing these long monologues and they start coming out sort of robotically. This will help to prevent that. But also, it relates to the hopelessness of the situation that the characters are in right now. It's sort of a metaphor."

Part the reason “The Trojan Women” was selected for production is its relevance to current events. Many elements of the play are echoed in modern headlines every day: the rape and torture of conquered people, the destruction of families, and the inevitable and irrevocable damage to noncombatant victims in the course of war.

While the Miami production is not set specifically in a modern war zone, Wilder said she and Eaton are well aware that it could be.

But that might mean missing a bigger point.

"Most of the production photos that I have seen actually have made it really obvious where they're setting it -- as in Vietnam or in Afghanistan or something like that," Wilder said. "Bekka's real goal was to point out that people continue to not learn from history. That's why this play still needs to be done. So by not situating it specifically in Afghanistan or Iraq I think makes that statement."

James Lentini, dean of Miami's School of Fine Arts, agrees that drawing specific comparisons between modern and ancient events isn't the most important element of this production.

"You wouldn't necessarily connect something so far removed in the timeline of things," says . "How do you make it relevant? Is it important to make it relevant?"

In the end the answer may be no.

"It is about social justice. Whether it's for women or Trojan women or whoever."