A heartbreaking and emotional story, “Women of Troy”, will be performed this week in the Cal High theater.
“Women of Troy,” also known as “Trojan Women,” takes center stage on Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for students and $12 for adults.
In the story, written by the Greek playwright Euripides, the Greek army has sacked Troy, killing the men and most children while leaving the women to be shipped back with the Greek kings to become slaves.This is where the story begins.
Theater and play production teacher Laura Woods said she chose “Women of Troy” because of her love for Greek theater and because her class is female-heavy this year.
Although this is the first year Cal will perform “Women of Troy”, Woods said she has always been interested in the play. In this performance, students will be taking a more modern approach while still staying true to its Greek roots.
“We’ve kind of tweaked it to make it a little more contemporary,” Woods said. “But with some Greek elements still.”
Queen Hecuba, the play’s main character, is played by senior Alysandra Kearney.
“She’s a force to be reckoned with on stage, so she was a pretty natural pick for that part,” Woods said.
Kearney said she auditioned for Hecuba’s role because of the strength her character represents and how she was a pillar for the other women in Troy to follow.
“She was the queen of Troy, she was a leader,” Kearney said. “I wanted to go for the role because of her maturity.”
Senior Sophia DiPietro is playing Andromache, Hector’s widow. Woods felt DiPietro’s audition connected with the loss associated with Andromache’s character.
“She’s the one who loses her baby,” Woods said. “Her audition really connected to that loss and hit those emotional notes that I needed for that part.”
DiPietro also feels she fits the role because she typically plays angry characters.
“I feel like I resonated with that intensity of [Andromache],” DiPietro said. “I find her to be kind of vengeful. I really like that about her character.”
The play also includes an original song, which Kearney helped create. The song is a lullaby that is meant for comforting while having a haunting feel at the same time. Woods said she wanted to convey a heartbreaking theme with the performance and the song will help do that.
“We’re trying to tap into ‘What would it feel like if I were ripped from my home and sent somewhere else?’” Woods said.
To practice, the actors rehearse during class and read the script outside of class. To further connect with her character, Kearney created a mood board to understand Hecuba even better. Performers need to prepare by discovering their own character and giving themselves a name due to many of the characters being numbered.
“The preparation has been to find these characters,” Woods said. “Especially since a lot of the women’s parts are named after a number.”
Due to the play’s sad tone, there won’t be many lighting effects. But at the start of the play, there will be a wave pattern during Poseidon’s introduction.
“I don’t want a lot of spectacle about this because this is not a play with spectacle,” Woods said. “It really is heartbreaking.”
Everybody in play production is involved in making the set. Senior Kate Murphy is a set designer who helped with building the set. Since the play takes place after a war, it was made to reflect that.
“We went for kind of like a dark, depressed vibe with it,” Murphy said.
Play production used chicken wire, PVC pipes, plywood and fabric for the set, which is crucial to many parts of the play. A fence serving as the play’s backdrop has pieces of fabric tied to it to represent the characters’ fallen family members.
“When a character finds out that her child was killed, she ties another piece of fabric onto the fence,” Murphy said. “It’s a symbolic part of the set.”
Costume design is equally as important as set design in a play. Senior Addie Mobarak, one of the costume designers, incorporated both contemporary and Greek elements into the costumes. For this reason, Poseidon is the only character wearing a robe. Colors were also used to better show characters’ personalities and status.
To further demonstrate the detail in the production, Mobarak dressed wealthier women in red, gold, and purple, which historically were worn by ancient Roman royals. These intricate elements really put the production together.