The Torch

Issue date: 11/13/08 Section: Arts

Director James Aday dressed the cast in the traditional Greek fashion for the birds in the play, using only togas, phalluses and exotic bird masks. Actors Jordon Nowotny, Rachel Pasley and Johnny Rogers display their costumes on the "Birds" stage. Photo by JB BOTWINICK/The Torch

Actors wear bird masks modeled on traditional Greek costume design. Each is unique and hand made by the actors who wear them. Photo by JB BOTWINICK/The Torch

Sharing the stage with the actors, as per Greek tradition, will be Rocky the goat. Rocky is on loan to the S.P.A from Director James Aday's neighbor. Photo by JB BOTWINICK/The Torch

[Click to enlarge]

No sooner than the student body stopped talking about Student Production Association's last production, "The Winters Tale," the theater department began work on its latest production.

"The Birds" is a Greek play written in 414 B.C. by Aristophanes. "The Birds" is a political satire involving a pair of travelers trying to find Utopia. They look to the birds for advice presuming that birds would have life figured out.

"They go to the birds cause they figure the birds have it made. All they do is fly around and eat berries," Sarah Gott, collaborator for artistic design, said.

The drama unfolds when the travelers come to the birds and start to treat them as gods themselves.

"They convince the birds to … set themselves up as gods. It ends up causing trouble 'cause the gods don't like being usurped," Gott explained.

The birds start to take on the role of gods and demand sacrifices. The people become confused about whom to worship. The Utopia the birds provide turns out to be just as bad as the system they were trying to usurp.

"It basically turns into the same thing they started out with," Gott said.

Although it is over 2,500 years old, S.P.A. felt that the play would be appropriate for election season.

"That's why I pushed for this play so hard," Gott said. "It's so perfect for this time.

"It's a comedy of politics. It pokes fun at all sorts and nothing is sacred … that's how the Greeks are," Gott explained.

"Aristophanes' political comedies were Athens' version of Saturday Night Live," Director James Aday said.

This play is unique in that it is being produced outside of the theater department's budget. This means that none of LCC's staff can partake in the production of the play in any professional sense.

"Although the staff are not allowed to intervene, they are very supportive and answer any questions we have," Gott said.

Since this is the case, the students are doing almost all the work themselves, including set design, costume design, stage construction and sound engineering.

"This is genuinely our venture, our baby," Gott said.

The students also brought in an outside director. Aday has been in theater since the early 1970s. He's done some acting at LCC and has directed three shows at the Very Little Theater. This will be his LCC directorial debut. Aday was happy to take on the project at S.P.A.'s request.

"I agreed to do this play because it was a comedy, it was experimental, and it was the right time of the year," Aday said.

The students also brought in choreographer Margo Van Ummerson.

"She's very fun to work with," Barbie Wu, assistant director and chorus member, said. "She looks at every member of the chorus and takes the best part of us and makes them better."

The birds in the play are represented in the classical fashion with robes, phalluses and bird masks.

"Because of the small budget, when it came to the bird suits, we decided 'let's do it classically' instead of doing elaborate feathered body suits. Once we made that decision, it set the course for decisions to come," Aday explained.

The rest of the set is modeled after classical Greek plays: very minimal with almost no decoration.

"The set you'll see is actually the framework of the original set," Aday said. "We took all the decorations off … It's a very raw suggestive stage as it usually was in those times."

While the look of the play is old fashioned, the content is modernized. Besides being translated into English, Aday takes several liberties with the original script, replacing classical allusions with updated modern references.

"That's the nice thing when you're working with a script that's almost 3,000 years old," Gott said. "When the play was put on back then, they would change the names of characters."

"The references and humor are very modern," actor Johnny Rogers said.

Indeed, some characters' names have been changed to evoke similar emotions the references would have elicited from audience members in 414 B.C.

The name changes are not limited to nationally known political figures. Aday has personalized the references even more to include local celebrities.

"There are a number of references to Dick Cheney, for example, here that were originally references to people like these people at that time," Aday explained.

Some classical allusions were left in because the characters are humorous enough in a universal context that a modern audience could still enjoy the jokes without having to know who the character was in history. An example of this is the character Meton, a Greek mathematician who invented the Metonic cycle. He was not looked upon well at the time the play was written and was heavily satirized in Aristophane's portrayal. This knowledge may enrich the audience's enjoyment of the character, but he is also funny enough in his own right that Aday decided to leave him in.

"Meton's character is a lot of fun," Rogers, who portrays Meton, said. "He's very into his craft, very obsessive."

S.P.A.'s production is largely a creative collaboration among the students. Since Gott first proposed it, the ideas have come from all directions.

"This play is the result of a process of experimentation and collaboration," Aday said. Aday read through eight different translations, mixing and matching the script and adding in his own modern references. He also took in ideas suggested by Gott and other cast members.

"[Aday] is big on the collaborative part of the process," Gott said.

"Everyone involved has been so creative," chorus member Lela Gouvela said.

"The Birds" opens in the Blue Door Theater on Friday, Nov. 14, with a preview on Thursday, Nov. 13. It will run for two weekends until Saturday, Nov. 22. Curtains open at 7:30 p.m. with a matinee on Sunday, Nov. 16, at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $10 general admission and $8 for students, faculty and staff of LCC. Reservations or special seating arrangements may be made by calling the S.P.A. office at (541) 463-5761.

"Be prepared to laugh and enjoy yourself," Gott said. "The ability to laugh at yourself is such a healthy thing, so I think it's going to be a fun show just to be able to do that."

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools