Theatre TCU is staging a production of “The Odyssey,” with a modern and feminist twist.
The Greek epic, written by Mary Zimmerman, follows the adventures of Odysseus as he tries to make it back to his family. The story comes to life through the lens of a young woman reading the tale, who finds herself transported into the story as the goddess Athena.
“There’s just a little bit more of a modernized and feminist spin on it,” Maggie Weckesser, a sophomore acting major who plays Athena, said.
The dialogue has been updated for modern audiences.
“The language is still somewhat like how the book was written, but a lot of it is adapted to be easier to understand,” Bryson Pope, a junior musical theatre major who plays Odysseus, said.
The play is also on the long side, nearly reaching three and a half hours, but the TCU production is about two and a half hours.
“We’re cutting it down a little bit for our audience’s sake,” Weckesser said.
The cast and crew also put in a lot of work outside of rehearsal times, she said.
Paige Huffman, a sophomore acting and French major, said that as the assistant stage manager, she’s doing even more work than on most productions.
“I track if the script gets changed and pronunciations for all the different Greek names,” Huffman said.
Another challenging element of “The Odyssey” is the fact that many actors have to play multiple roles.
“‘The Odyssey’ still has so many characters that I think every single person in our cast is playing multiple roles,” Weckesser said. “Over the course of a line, I switch into like, three different characters.”
The cast and crew said they feel both challenged and excited by how many fantastical set pieces there are in the play.
“You just really have to think outside the box,” Huffman said. “Like, how are we going to have a sailor get eaten by a monster? Or how are we going to have a cyclops appear?”
“The Odyssey” will run from Oct. 21-26. The tickets will go on sale at noon Oct. 13. There’s a discounted price for TCU students, faculty and staff.
