Play extras
After the show at Miami University Voice of America Learning Center, there will be a reception with complimentary pizza and soft drinks for audience members. There will also be an opportunity to meet the “Dis/Troy” actors.
WEST CHESTER TWP. — Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Touring Company will soon perform a modernized play of Homer’s epic poem, “The Iliad,” at an area college.
The family friendly performance is slated for 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 6 at Miami University Voice of America Learning Center, 7347 VOA Park Drive, West Chester Twp. The show is free and is a joint project of the Arts Council of West Chester/Liberty and the VOALC.
Those ages 10 and older are encouraged to see it, as the one-hour play boasts educational value, organizers said.
In the show, Greece’s best warrior, Achilles, refuses to fight in the Trojan War, and Greek Gods intensely watch from above at both sides’ sufferings, until joining the battle themselves. Scenes of Earth and Mount Olympus alternate in this high-pace, action comedy.
When the group performed the play in January at the Fairfield Community Arts Center, the education director for Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Mark Lutwak, said the play’s themes of pride, anger and self-control will appeal to ages 10 and older.
“This play particularly resonates with adolescents, with combat scenes young people will enjoy,” Lutwak said.
The hour-long play, with no intermission, features four actors playing 10 characters. Lutwak commissioned Yokanaan Kearns to write the play six years ago, while at the Honolulu Theatre for Youth. The play was perfected at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts “New Vision/New Voices Festival” in Washington D.C.
“Dis/Troy” will show at 15 community centers and 30 high schools and middle schools throughout Cincinnati through Feb. 18.
Writer Haley Day contributed to this report.