Oresteia

The Oresteia is a trilogy by Aeschylus, one of the foremost playwrights of ancient Greece. It encompasses three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Furies. It tells the tragic tale of the House of Atreus, whose inhabitants have been cursed and are doomed to play out their bloody, vengeful destinies. At the beginning of the first part, the Trojan War has ended and the Greek general, Agamemnon, is returning victorious to his wife Clytemnestra. Yet she finds it difficult to forgive his sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia, who was killed to ensure the Greek fleet fair winds in their voyage to Troy. Her desire for vengeance, and its dire consequences, instigates the action of these poetic tragedies. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)

Cast:

AGAMEMNON, king of Mycenae - StephenC

AEGISTHUS, cousin to Agamemnon - mb

ORESTES, son of Agamemnon - David O’Connell

CLYTEMNESTRA, wife of Agamemnon - Christie Nowak

CASSANDRA, a Trojan princess - Kristin Hughes

ELECTRA, sister of Orestes - Claire Goget

APOLLO, god of the Delphic oracle - Andrew Lebrun

ATHENA, goddess of wisdom - Catharine Eastman

PYTHIA, a priestess of Apollo - Kirsten Ferreri

A WATCHMAN at Mycenae - Joe Earley

A HERALD from Troy - tipaew

NURSE to Orestes and Electra - Elizabeth Klett

ATTENDANT of Aegisthus - Fr. Richard Zeile of Detroit

ATTENDANT WOMAN of Athena - Jennifer Stearns

NARRATOR - Justin Barrett

CHORUS in Agamemnon - Andy Minter

CHORUS in The Libation-Bearers - Jc Guan

CHORUS in The Furies - Kara Shallenberg, Rosalind Wills, and Christie Nowak

PYLADES - Annoying Twit

Book Coordinators: Kirsten Ferreri, Sarah Jennings, Elizabeth Klett, and David Lawrence