Let the Festivities Begin!

originally published March 21, 2007

In Western dramatic history, few days of the year are as notable as those just after the spring equinox (technically last night if you’ve picked this up on the issue date). Nearly all of the great Greek tragedies and quite a few of the comedies, arguably the ultimate roots of all things theatrical, premiered at the end of March around 25 centuries ago at yearly festivals known as the Dionysia. While lacking the traditional bull sacrifices and towering bronze and wood phalluses (though the drunken revelers seem ready to do their part), the heirs of Thespis in this town, which just happens to share a name with the cite of that shindig of yore, have taken it upon themselves to keep the tradition alive with bounty on nearly every local stage.

The Ravages of War: According to the Greek historian Aelian, a nearly forgotten poetaster called Xeoncles edged out Euripides at the Dionysian dramatic competition in 415 B.C., due either to the intellectual incapability of the judges or to the fact that “they were bribed.” In either case, the only remaining work of the former is a few terrible lines caustically mocked by the great comedian Aristophanes, while the latter has rightfully earned a place as one of the three greatest tragedians of the ancient era. In keeping with the festival’s tradition of pointing out social ills that would be taboo topics at other times, Euripides’entry that year, The Trojan Women , interrogated the awful costs of war - a timely topic considering the Greeks were then embroiled in the worst of the Peloponnesian War. Staging renowned translator, playwright and dramatic historian John Barton ’s accessible adaptation, University Theatre will yet again put the horrors war inflicts on both aggressor and victim on display at a particularly opportune historical moment. While focusing on the tremendous suffering and grief of the women of Troy as they are enslaved, raped, deprived of family and friends, and torn from their homeland, the play also showcases the ritual vengeance the gods will ultimately exact on the Athenians who’ve sacrificed much of their own dignity in the hubris of victory. The Trojan Women plays at the Seney-Stovall Chapel, Wednesday, Mar. 21–Saturday, Mar. 24 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Mar. 25 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets, at $8 for regular admission and $6 for students and seniors, can be purchased at the University Theatre Box Office, Schoolkids Records, or by calling 706-542-2838.

Life and Death on a Park Bench: Also on UGA’s theatre calendar for the end of March is the Graduate Acting Ensemble ’s production of Zoo Story . Playwright Edward Albee stated that he developed the play (the start of one of the most consistent careers in modern American drama) based on some of the desperate characters he met while working as a Western Union delivery boy. That such a profound and sinister challenge to American, and indeed basic human values could spring from the brief contact of courier and receiver is testament to Albee’s acute sensitivity to frailty and the knife’s-edge boundary between civility and savagery. A disorienting admixture of absurdism and realism, Albee’s one-act tells the story of a deeply lonely man who meets a stranger in Central Park and goes to shocking lengths not to be left alone again. Zoo Story plays in the Arena Theatre of the Fine Arts Building , Mar. 29 through Apr. 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets will be $5 at the door.

Living, Breathing Allegory of Want: Continuing the dramatic debutante ball that has been Athens theatre’s '06–'07 season, yet another newcomer to the Athens stage will burst forth fully-formed into the local stagelights this month: Stray Productions . That said, the masterminds behind the company - Steve Elliott-Gower , Catherine Clayton and Rex Totty - aren’t exactly fresh faces on this scene. What is particularly refreshing about the company, however, is the founders' stated mission of “producing intellectually and emotionally engaging plays for a dynamic cultural community." Specifically, Stray plans to stage modern and contemporary shows that might seem at odds with the familiar fare of some other groups in town. In keeping with that well-chosen moniker, Stray's inaugural production will be the Totty-penned Arrogant Coyotes . Wrapped in a chronological, teleological, technological and sexual Gordian knot, the play features a group of old acquaintances (and much more than acquaintances) meeting in an abandoned warehouse somewhere in the Southwest in the early 1990s. Whether the snarled strands of sexual relationships, drug-running, lascivious videography and potential violence that follow are a virtual reality or merely a fetid figment of central character Maj’s imagination is never really clear. Laden with some of the finest Athenian acting talents, Arrogant Coyotes will play at the Jittery Joe’s Roasting Company on East Broad Street, Mar. 23–24 and 30–31. Each evening will feature both a cocktail hour performance at 6 p.m. and a nightcap show at 9 p.m. Tickets ($15 for general admission and $10 for students, seniors and GI’s) will be available at the door or by calling 706-207-3525. In the apropos words of one of the group's founding members: “Theatre: no longer the stepchild of the arts in Athens.” Cut! Cut! Cut!: As any poor soul who has ever donned the director’s cap knows, few experiences can be as wildly frustrating as the constant catastrophic barrage that is running a production. Drawing on his formidable and lengthy experience (60-plus, at last count) as one such hapless helmsman, Dr. John Vance will offer his latest comic joint, a metatheatrical insider’s look dubbed The Director’s Nightmare . Featuring a cast that should be pleasantly familiar to frequenters of JV Productions over the past several years, The Director’s Nightmare plays at the Seney-Stovall Chapel on Mar. 30–31 at 8 p.m. Tickets will be a mere $10 and $8 at the door.

Twice the Charm: Though the movie-musical Thoroughly Modern Millie so pleased audiences in the late 1960s that it earned nominations for seven Academy Awards and five Golden Globes, it had, by the late 1990s, gathered enough dust to seem a dated dinosaur of a thankfully bygone era. Thankfully, a group of theatre professionals in California thought the tale of a starry-eyed, ambitious-Kansan-turned-NYC-flapper had sufficient charm to merit revision. The revival turned out to be so enchanting that the producers moved the show to Broadway where it earned a staggering six Tonys out of nearly a dozen nominations. Oconee Youth Playhouse will stage a production of the revival with the talented-beyond-her-years Kelly O’Neill in the title role (OYP regulars will remember her as Lucy in the recent production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown ). Thoroughly Modern Millie will play at the Oconee Civic Center on Thursday, Mar. 22–Saturday, Mar. 24 at 7 p.m. Hot on the heels of that production, OYP will also produce Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella exactly 50 years after it premiered on CBS to the largest television audience then recorded. With a precocious cast of young actors (none of the leads is yet high-school age), Cinderella will also play at the Oconee Civic Center Mar. 30–31 at 8 p.m. and Mar. 31 and Apr. 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets for both shows can (and considering the likelihood of sellout crowds, probably should) be reserved by calling the box office at 706-769-2677. Seats for Thoroughly Modern Millie will cost $16 for adults, $14 for seniors and $12 for students and youngsters. Tickets for Cinderella will cost $14, $12 and $10.

Pasties and a G-String, Beer and a Shot: In the not-so-distant recesses of Athenian history, there was a certain house of ill-repute known as Effie’s. Co-opting the name for a slightly less salacious but infinitely funnier form of entertainment, the ladies of Effie’s Club Follies Vaudeville Burlesque Revue trade in the racy, ribald and risible styles listed in that mouthful of a name to get their kicks. In their upcoming curtain-raiser, “Effie’s Goes Hollywood , ” the licentious ladies (and a few lovely men) will wrap big, feathered boas right around the tender bits of Hollywood celebs and cinema favorites both old and new. The blue bonanza will play at the Georgia Theatre on Wednesday, Mar. 21 at 8 p.m. and Thursday, Mar. 22 at midnight. The shows will be either followed or preceded (respectively) by local music acts. See ABC for more. Tickets prices, at $10 a pop, are scandalously scanty for such a feast for the senses.

Smile, Darn Ya Smile: Though the specifics of the scenario were not yet public knowledge at press time, I Commedianti Georgiani , the University’s irreverent improv troupe, plans to crack audiences up for the second time this month. The show will most likely be held in the Cellar Theatre on Monday, Mar. 26 at 8 p.m., but interested parties should keep eyes trained on www.drama.uga.edu for details as they become available. One certainty, however, is that admission will be free of charge.

Brandon Waddell

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