ELECTRA by Sophocles

Adapted by Frank McGuinneS
Directed by Rodney Higginbotham

Thursdays-Fridays-Saturdays
7:30 PM
November 13-15
November 20-22
(No performances during Thanksgiving Week)
Dec. 4-6

Years ago Electra’s father was murdered by her mother’s lover.  Since that time Electra has daily suffered and mourned her father’s death, sustained only by the belief that her brother Orestes, upon attaining manhood, would one day return to exact revenge.  At the opening of the play, the morning light falls on the palace of golden Mycenae as Orestes secretly returns with a plot to satisfy Electra’s deepest desire.  Thus begins one of the most frequently produced of the classic Greek tragedies. "Leave it to a playwright who has been dead for 2,400 years to jolt Broadway [with] soul satisfying drama at its most passionately, intensely alive.... It's a provocative evening that not only reacquaints you with the direct, unprocessed power of Greek drama but also provides a depth of pleasure you associate with great movies " (New York Times found in Samuel French, Inc.)
 
  Pictured:  Gail Wittenstein as Electra, Cheryl Lyman as Clytemnestra


 Cast

Servant to Orestes_____________________Andrew Berlien

Orestes____________________________________David Mitchell

 Pylades___________________________________Kyle Youngblut

Electra___________________________________Gail Wittenstein

Chorus___________________________________Laura Gryfinski

                                                             Wendy Silva

                                                             Whitney Behr

 Chrysothemis______________________________Colleen McCread

 Clytemnestra_________________________________Cheryl Lyman

 Aegisthus________________________________ Kenneth Kirschnick

The remaining schedule...

February  Feb. 26-28, March 5-7, 12-14 - 2009
ILLUSION by Pierre Corneille, translated and adapted by Tony Kushner, Directed by Chris Leonard
“…this the tale of a rigid father, Pridament, who, stricken with remorse for having provoked his son to flee the family home, searches out the magician Aleandre in the hope that he will help him find out what happened to the wayward boy.  Aleandre does, and the ironic twist of the piece is that after several false starts, passionate re-enactments, comic delusions and confusions, the truth is revealed and Papa finds he doesn't like it. The light-hearted ending is a cynical but honest lesson in selective affection.  THE ILLUSION takes us into territory on which theater thrives: fantasy, witchcraft, transcended place and time....” (Los Angeles Times found in Broadway Play Publishing, Inc.)

April 16-18, 23-25, April 30-May 2 - 2009
  LETTICE AND LOVAGE by Peter Shaffer, directed by Anna Amtaramian
“Lettice Duffeet, an expert on Elizabethan cuisine and medieval weaponry, is an indefatigable enthusiast of history and the theatre.  She is a tour guide at Fustian House—one of the least stately and least interesting of Britain’s stately homes.  Lettice begins to embellish its historical past and her lecture gains theatricality and romance as it strays from the facts.  Lotte Schon, an inspector from the Preservation Trust, is not impressed or entertained by these uninhibited history lessons.  She fires Lettice, but gradually becomes fascinated by her unusual past, her romantic world-view and her refusal to accept the mediocre and the second rate.  The two women forge an alliance to awaken their fellow citizens to the dreariness of modern life.” (Samuel French, Inc.)
 
 
Summer Theatre:
 
June 4-6, 11-13, 18-20  - 2009
  A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare, directed by Anna Amtaramian
 
The action begins at the beautiful court of Theseus, Duke of Athens, and later moves to the mystical forest inhabited by Oberon and Titania, King and queen of the fairies…It is the magical story of star-crossed lovers, overly ambitious homespun rustics and misadventures with the fairies.
 
 
July 16-18, 23-25, 30-Aug. 1  - 2009
  Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Anna Amtaramian
“Ever since its first performance in 1894, and the controversy it aroused, it has had a prominent place in the repertory of the English-speaking stage.  In this play Saw wrote a satire on war and the professional fighting man; the typical Shavian touches throughout are very good fun; but of course there are serious points to be made too and Shaw makes them in his inimitably brilliant manner.” (Samuel French, Inc.)


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