Pay-What-You-Can Preview – Thursday April 8
Bring two cans of food and at least $6. Anything more than that is up to you. Seating is general admission.
Opening Night – Friday April 9
Opening night party sponsored by Bobby’s Downtown.
Happy Hour and a Half – Thursday April 15
Complimentary wine and cheese with the cast and director beginning at 6pm.
When
April 8-25, 2010, Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets
Pay What You Can: $6 minimum with a donation of two cans of food
Thursday and Sunday performances: $20 Adults, $15 Students/Senior(65+)/Military, FREE for students under 18
Friday and Saturday performances: $20 Adults, $15 Students/Senior(65+)/Military
FST Associate Artistic Director Anne Thibault wrote and directed the modern tragicomic adaptation Antigone, or I really wish you hadn’t done that. It is the story of a young woman punished for giving her brother an honorable burial after he has betrayed his country.
“This play is look at one girl’s struggle with grief – she has been recently orphaned and has lost two brothers in one war. It’s also about the personal vs. the public. Our play takes place in a post-apocalyptic world called New Thebes. As a growing society, it’s a community in crisis. Antigone’s nemesis, the new leader Creon, is doing what he thinks is right to protect his people and their values.”
Thibault is in her second season as an Associate Artistic Director at FST. Prior to this, she directed and performed across the country. She last directed Romeo + Juliet for FST. As an actress, she toured for three years with the National Shakespeare Company. She has worked at the North Carolina Stage Company, the Wilbur Theater, the White River Theatre Festival, the Westport Playhouse, the Theater at Monmouth, the Clarence Brown Theatre Company, the Fulton Opera House and many others. Off-Broadway she has been seen in The Seagull. As a writer, her plays have been produced around the country. Her most recent play, I Wrote This Play to Make You Love Me, was most recently produced in Tuscon, Asheville, NC, and Orlando, Florida.
The cast includes many talented local artists, students, and community actors, many of whom have been seen before on the FST stages. The cast features Claire Wool as Antigone, who has been seen in many Theater UAF productions, including How I Learned to Drive and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Wool is making her FST debut. The production also stars Hadassah R. Nelson as Creon. Nelson is very familiar to FST audiences, having been featured in The Tempest,Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, and as Mercutio in last season’s Romeo + Juliet.
The post-apocalyptic set was designed by FST Artistic Director B.D. Rogers and Associate Artistic Director Rebecca Eddy, who also functions as the show’s movement director. “The show asks what would happen if something like the Cuban Missile Crisis failed and the world cracked open?” Thibault said. “Eddy and Rogers came up with a gorgeous set that mixes architectural elements that could be found in ancient Greece and other elements that can be found today. The design element of show mirror the ways in which the play takes on the classic properties of the original script and also adds very modern twists. It’s got a gorgeous, surreal look to it.”
Jerea Casselmen and Jerene Mosier took on the costumes. “The society of New Thebes has mirrored itself on the world of the Kennedys, so they’ve had a lot of fun putting together some great looks from the 1960s but adding post-modern flair.” Thibault said. “The show looks great.”
Thibault and FST sound designer Chris John George collaborated on the sound design. Thibault said, “Using modern music is incredibly important to me in bringing the show to life. The soundtrack uses everyone from Lesley Gore to Green Day to Radiohead to Fairbanks musician Craig Brookes. Chris John George adds immeasurably to the production as he has for dozens of FST shows with his very talented, very realistic sound work.”
Like all Greek tragedies, this production contains some adult content. The show is at the Empress Theater on Third Avenue between Cushman and Lacey.
