reek playwright Aristo-phanes didn't stop the Peloponnesian War with his anti-war comedy "Lysistrata," and 2,400 years later, Ball State theatre students don't expect to have much of an impact on the current situation in Iraq.
But at least they'll have a good deal of bawdy fun in the process.
The Department of Theatre and Dance's production of "Lysistrata" is a protest complete with disco music, mirrored balls and large foam sex toys. This modern take on a classical tale is a send-up of sexual politics, combat and male aggression. The ongoing war in the Middle East, however, had little to do with the department's decision to stage it. The timing is purely coincidental as the schedule was laid out more than a year ago.
"It'd be nice to say that 'yeah, we knew this was going to happen,' but we didn't have that much vision," department chair Don LaCasse said. "We plan our seasons in November and December of the previous year."
Nevertheless, director Karen Kessler has few qualms about putting the show on at this particular time.
"If you're doing an anti-war play right with a war going on, there is no way to get around the connection," she said. "To me the thing that makes this country the most amazing place in the world to live is the First Amendment. We can say what we think and feel about what is going on. It is my belief, as a person who loves this country, that First Amendment demands that of us."
According to LaCasse, "Lysistrata" was one of the first known anti-war plays. The comedy was first produced in the fifth century B.C. in Athens, during the midst of a 30-year war between the Athenians and Spartans. In the play a Greek woman, Lysistrata, devises a plan to bring about peace. The women of Greece, on both sides of the battle, stage a sex strike, withholding all carnal pleasures from the men, until they agree to end the conflict.
"Taken on the surface it's an extremely sexist play," Kessler said. "And I don't just mean sexist toward women. It's sexist in both directions. Basically the play says the only power women have is in their sexuality and men, when cut off from that sexuality, become idiots. What you have to do is expand that out to the point where it becomes satirical. If it's done right, it can be really funny, and the combination of a show that is amusing and fervently anti-war can make a strong statement."
The show, though it takes place in ancient Greece, features plenty of references to modern culture. The women's costumes are meant to evoke suburban housewife fashions. Dance numbers are set to NSYNC and Bon Jovi. The production even features an homage to "The Matrix."
"It was very important to me not to do it exactly as Aristophanes would have done," Kessler said. "But I believe in the spirit of what Aristophanes did, which was make it timely for the people he was performing it for. I've attempted to reach my demographic, which is essentially college students."
Kessler has dubbed the show the "South Park" of ancient Greece, and for good reason. Scantily clad women prance across the stage. Men sport exaggerated sexual organs and perform overt sexual gestures.
"I didn't tell my grandmother or my stepmother this was happening," said junior Andy Minegar, who stars as Kinesias, a soldier returning home but without a warm welcome from his wife. "I didn't want them to see their son or grandson doing some of the things we're doing on stage."
Even though Kessler describes herself as a pacifist who opposes the war in Iraq, she hopes the headlines won't distract from the humor.
"It (the war) is such a difficult subject to embrace without pulling people out of the story of our play. You don't want people thinking about Iraq when they're supposed to be thinking about Lysistrata," she said. "I think what we've done is we've let the piece and the anti-war message stand on its own. We play to the work and anti-war statement."
"Lysistrata" will take place at8 p.m. today and tomorrow and from April 3-5., with an afternoon show at 2:30 p.m. April 6 in University Theatre.
Tickets. which are available at University Theatre sell for $12 general public, $11 Ball State faculty and staff, $9 senior citizens and $5 students. Call the box office at (765) 285-8749 for more information.
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