A person in high power passes a law you cannot morally follow. Do you stand back and allow the law to continue — or do you fight? On Oct. 28, Theatre Fairfield will present “Antigone” at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, and this is the decision protagonists Antigone (Jessie Lizotte ‘18) and Ismene (Fallon Sullivan ‘20) need to make when their uncle, King Creon (Tim Healey ‘20), forbids anyone from burying their brother and putting his soul to rest.
Antigone was written by Sophocles around 441 B.C., but, as Sean Larson ‘18 (Haimon, Antigone’s fiancé and Creon’s son) observed, “Although this play is old, we have many ties to present day through the characters. I will not get political, but let’s just say that Donald Trump is pretty relatable to Creon.” Yet, viewers do not need to be interested in or agree with these politics to relate to the play and its characters. The “Antigone” cast has been practicing for hours on end five times a week since the early September casting, and much of that time has been spent finding the soul of their characters so that they can truly bring them to life. Larson, who also performed in Theatre Fairfield shows “Pack of Lies” and “The Art of Dining,” was particularly focused on how real the characters felt due to the cast’s hard work. “I think getting into character for these roles is very tricky because they are larger than life with very bold and distinguished personalities … we all found the real soul of our characters throughout this entire rehearsal process and eventually, we started molding the personalities of each character together as we performed.”
When Theatre Fairfield presented “Taming of the Shrew” during the spring 2017 semester, audiences were left in awe of the use of cell phones and modern technology in the midst of an otherwise Shakespearean play. This semester’s “Antigone” director, Dr. Marti LoMonaco, is taking a different approach which Fallon Sullivan, who stage managed for “Pack of Lies,” “Director’s Cut,” and “Taming of the Shrew,” explained. “‘Antigone’ is going to be very simple in the best way possible. We have a simple golden set that will be set up in a Thrust Theatre setting of the Wein Experimental Theatre, and there will be no cell phones or screens. Dr. L wants the play to be a lot like the old Greek tragedies were staged with few props and simple costumes.”
“Not to be cheesy, but I am excited for the whole play itself,” Sullivan concluded. “The cast and team of this production are extremely fun and easy to work with and it really makes a good community feeling in and out of rehearsals. We had a run through of the show last night and I got chills … I think the play is going to be really beautiful, but also sad so the audience should bring tissues.”
“Antigone” is already selling out at the Quick Center box office. The only performances with available tickets are those on Oct. 28 at 2 and 8 p.m., with tickets selling to students for $5 and all other attendees for $20.
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