CLC to present Greek tragedy
“Orestes,” a tragedy written by Greek playwright Euripides, will be presented over two weekends in March by the College of Lake County Theatre Department.
Using a translation by Anne Carson, the play is directed by Rebekah Scallet, a CLC adjunct faculty member who directed “Anne Frank and Me” at CLC in 2009.
The show will be presented in the Studio Theatre of the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 11 and 12; 2 p.m. Sunday, March 13; and 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, March 17-19.
A special matinee for high school groups in grades 9 and above will be offered at 10 a.m. Friday, March 18.
Tickets are $10 each for general admission and $8 for CLC students/staff, seniors 65 and older and JLC season subscribers (prices include a $1 JLC facility fee).
Tickets are available at the CLC Box Office in the James Lumber Center on the Grayslake campus, 19351 W. Washington St.; by phone at (847) 543-2300; or online at www.clcillinois.edu/tickets. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more in advance.
For details, call (847) 543-2431 or e-mail JLCgroupsales@clcillinois.edu.
To request sign language interpreting, call the Box Office at (847) 543-2300 at least two weeks in advance.
“Orestes,” written in 408 B.C., is the third chapter in a trilogy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides about Elektra and Orestes, siblings who are the offspring of a child-sacrificing father and a husband-murdering mother. Guided by the god Apollo and their own sense of righteousness, Elektra and Orestes kill their mother to avenge their father's death. But as the play shows, no “good deed” goes unpunished.
This modern translation by Carlson, the noted Canadian poet and translator, shows a family caught in an unending cycle of violence and retaliation that leads to an examination of the very nature of justice.
“What is unique about this translation is there is a lot of humor in the writing — it's not all doom and gloom,” Scallet said.
The cast features the following CLC students and community members: Ashley Rodriguez (Grayslake) as Elektra; Kim Kuzma (Wauconda) as Helen; Sam Hernandez (Mundelein) as Orestes; Andy Montano (Mundelein) as Menelaos; Romeo Sobrepena (Lindenhurst) as Tyndareus; Adam Bakunas (Mundelein) as Pylades; Timothy Workman (North Chicago) as Messenger; Samantha Charles (Antioch) as Hermione; Rodrigo Arreola (Lake Bluff) as Trojan Slave; Chawkeen Graham (Lake Villa) as Apollo; and Bev Adamczyk (Lake Bluff), Jaime Churchill (Round Lake Beach), Dominique Jackson (Round Lake Beach), Andrea Martinez (Long Grove) and Ela Winnett (Waukegan) as the chorus of Argos women.