Whistler Wednesdays: Trojan Women

by Euripides
a new translation by Francis Blessington
directed by Roxanna Myhrum

After the fall of Troy, the women of the city wait in camps to learn their fates.
A messenger comes and goes, bringing news of new horrors and atrocities that await them.

"The human spirit wrestles with dream and fact, grand memory and future pain, madness and grief, love and hate. But the human mind goes on living, coping, dreaming, remembering, despairing, changing, and doing these activities over again, refusing to fall silent, refusing in its way to die. ... The wonder is that human nature can endure, and express, so much so well."
- Francis Blessington

the company
	Emily Marvosh is happy to join Whistler in the Dark for her first production, although she is no stranger to the stage: she is active in opera and oratorio in the Boston area. As a soloist, she has performed with Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Boston, the Back Bay Chorale, L'academie, Longwood Opera and Intermezzo Chamber Opera; she is also a frequent soloist with the Marsh Chapel Choir Bach Cantata Series. Forays into new music include the role of Meg in the New England premiere of Mark Adamo's Little Women and world premieres with Juventas New Music Ensemble and the Lorelei Ensemble. She holds degrees from Central Michigan University and Boston University.
	Lorna Nogueira studied theater at UMass. Boston. She's most recently appeared in Nashua Theatre Guild's A Streetcar Named Desire, Apollinaire Theater's Mammals and Whistler in the Dark's One Flea Spare. She is currently working with Boston Experimental Theatre's There is Another Court: An Evening with JonBenet Ramsey. She is happy to be participating in the reading series again this year!
	Aimee Rose Ranger is a local actress, storyteller, and clown who performs frequently with imaginary beasts theatre company. Most recently she was seen in Whistler’s Tales from Ovid. She has created two solo performances, what happened pink clouds and My Heart a Jester which premiered at the New England Fringe Festival. She recently performed an original short piece at the Medicine Show Theatre off-off Broadway. Aimee Rose performed in FeverFest 2009 in the show Would You Meet Me and was in the production 47 Ways to Die at Club Oberon. She is a ghost tour guide for Ghosts and Gravestones of Boston, and also hosts a once-a-month storytelling potluck called SOOP in her home in Jamaica Plain.
	Dakota Shepard has most recently been seen in New Rep's productions of A Christmas Carol and The Scarlet Letter and will be soon appearing in Whistler's The Europeans. Dakota has worked with the Huntington Theatre Company, Zeitgeist Stage Company, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, and Cape Rep among others. Visit www.dakotashepard.com for more information.
	Scott Sweatt is excited to be back working with the Whistlers after last fall's production of In on It. He spent the summer touring with Momentum Theatre Troupe, on a truck that unfolds into a stage, sharing productions of: The Tempest, The Leader, and an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky. Around Boston he has worked with New Repertory Theatre on productions of boom!, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile, at Stoneham Theatre in My Fair Lady, GAN-e-meed's production of Silence, and The Donkey Show at the ART. He has also worked with Exquisite Corps on their Infinite Story project devoted to developing plays of Boston playwrights. He earned an MFA in Acting from Columbia University, and a BS in Theatre from Skidmore College. Scott joins Whistler as an Artistic Associate for the 6th season with roles in The Europeans and Aunt Dan and Lemon.
	Meg Taintor (Director) is the Artistic Director at Whistler, for whom she has directed Tales from Ovid, Family Stories, One Flea Spare, In On It, The Bacchae, Mary's Wedding, Vampire, All This Flying, All This Tumbling Down, The B File, and The Possibilities, and performed in A Hard Heart, Don't Exaggerate (FeverFest 06), and in The Psyche Project (FeverFest 07). Meg has also directed for Mill6 Theatre and New Voices @ New Rep. Her regional theatre credits include the National Players, Rorschach Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, the Potomac Theatre Project and Washington Shakespeare Company. She holds a B.A. in Theatre and Women & Gender Studies from Middlebury College.
	Mac Young holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Theatre from Bennington College. His recent appearances include Imaginary Beast's Moliére Squared, Holland Production's Aloha, Say The Pretty Girls, Zeitgeist Stage's Bad Jazz, and ArtFarm Production's premiere, Kim and Delia. He has numerous credits from the Vineyard Playhouse, and makes frequent appearances in their Shakespeare for the Masses series, for which he serves as fight director. He has contributed prop and set designs for Siamsa Theatre Co. (Thirst, A Pound on Demand), Holland Productions (Kid Simple, Melancholy Play), and Imaginary Beasts (Moliére Squared). Mac was recently seen in Whistler's Tales from Ovid, and looks forward to appearing in their February production of Howard Barker's The Europeans.
the playwright
	Euripides was born sometime between 485 and 480 BC in Macedonia, and is the third of the three major tragedians whose work survives to today. He presented his first set of tragedies in Athens in 455, won his first victory (of only five that he would win in his lifetime) in 441 and died in 406 (the same year as Sophocles), at the court of King Archelous of Macedon where he was either a guest or an exile. He wrote between 88-92 plays during the course of his life, nineteen of which survive. The year following his death, his son brought his final three plays – The Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis and Alcmaeon at Corinth – to Athens, where they were produced and garnered the playwright his final victory.
	Francis Blessington (translator) is a professor of English at Northeastern University in Boston. He has published verse translations of Euripides’ The Bacchae and Aristophanes’ The Frogs, a verse play, Lorenzo de’ Medici, Paradise Lost: Ideal and Tragic Epic, Paradise Lost and the Classical Epic, a novel, The Last Witch of Dogtown, and two books of poems, Wolf Howl and Lantskip. In the summer, he works on a farm in Spain.
the director
	Roxanna Myhrum is a producer and director of opera, puppetry, and theater. She is a strong proponent of both new works and classics and is thrilled to be working on a new translation of Trojan Women with such a great company and talented cast. Roxie directed Dollartorium for Whistler's 2009-2010 reading series, and has also presented stagings at The Factory Theatre as part of Exquisite Corp's Director's Project and SLAMBoston 2010 (Winner, best overall play). Roxie has directed numerous productions for Boston Opera Collaborative and other small opera companies in Boston, and she will Assistant Direct at Opera Boston in the spring. Roxie is also finishing her first year as Artistic Director of Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline where she curates year-round programming for family and adult audiences. Information about upcoming projects available at http://www.roxannamyhrum.com/