Euripides’s Medea

adaptation by Robinson Jeffers

October 22-25, 1998
Fine Arts Theatre
Hyman Fine Arts Center
Francis Marion University

Medea is Euripides’s classic story of a woman driven to commit the most horrible of crimes. As timely as it was 2500 years ago, this is the tale of a woman whose passions led her to seek revenge on the lover who rejected her. Set in 5th Century (B.C.) Greece, Euripides pits overbearing passion against over-zealous logic and ultimately reveals the unfortunate consequences of both extremes. With the shadow of the story Jason and the Golden Fleece looming over Medea, the audience witnesses the horrors of faded loyalty and ultimate revenge, and is forced to judge the action of the betrayed and perhaps feel sympathy for the betrayer.

Medea was written in 431 B.C. at the height of classical Athens’s “golden age.” There can be little doubt that Euripides’s theatrical depiction of a woman’s passion destroying a man’s society was provocative, leading to intense discussion among a community for whom the theatre was a central forum for exploring issues of the day. Many of these issues remain contemporary 2428 years later.

The Visit

by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
directed by D. Keith Best

February 25-28, 1998
Fine Arts Theatre
Hyman Fine Arts Center
Francis Marion University

THE VISIT is Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s classic tale of loyalty -vs- avarice, the need of the one -vs- the greed of the many. A Senegalese adaptation of this play was entitled HYENAS — come and see why…

The play is a tragicomedy involving the return of a wealthy woman to the now poverty-stricken town in which she was born. Assistant Professor D. K. Best will direct a cast of 29 through a fascinating mixture of realistic and nonrealistic elements as the townspeople respond to the widow’s manipulation, setting into motion a chain of events with tragic consequences.

Scene design is by Associate Professor David C. Granath, costume design is by Assistant Professor Amy Sherwood, and lighting design is by FMU senior Charles Foster. The cast includes Kelly Jean Moore, Chuck Miller, David Martinez, Kate Corea, Brad Linton, Larry Falck, Brad King, Jacob Robertson, Christine Hong, Rob Sanders, Amy Brown, Will Franklin, Maria Belotti, Darlene Granada, Dana Harrell, Kendall Kiker, Joey Nice, Tripp Messick, Michael Clark, Vanessa Gregg, Tenieka Brannon, Brandie Osborne, Misty Hollingshead, Brent Ard, April Biehl, Dawn Alex, Kathy Jeffords, Laura Fitzsimmons, and Rob Jones.

Greater Tuna

by Jaston Williams
directed by A. Glen Gourley

April 15-18, 1998
Fine Arts Theatre
Hyman Fine Arts Center
Francis Marion University

THE STORY:
“Greater Tuna” is the hilarious comedy about Texas’ third smallest town, where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies. Tuna is redneck America, and it’s as clever as it is entertaining.

The play is set in Tuna, a mythical small town in West Texas, where everyone listens to Radio OKKK, all 275 watts of it. Topping the headlines is the winning entry in the American Heritage Essay Contest, entitled: “Human Rights, Why Bother?” Tuna’s residents include a variety of eccentrics, bigots, and oddballs . There’s Aunt Pearl, who poisons the town’s stray dogs; Vera Carp, the richest woman in town and vice president of the Smut Snatchers club, and Didi Snavely, a gun shop owner, who decorates her Christmas tree with hand grenades.

THE REVIEWS:
“Howlingly funny…clever…entertaining…kind of a small-scale Peyton Place with a bigoted accent…hilarious…sort of a a SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY with a Texas drawl.” — Variety

“…paints a wickedly amusing panorama of conservative mores…it’s a great show.” — Washington Post

“The jokes are…broad, but…quite sharp, too, there is real satire…comedy…enjoyable.” — The New Yorker

THE CAST:
Thurston Wheelis: Vanessa Gregg
Arles Struvie: Will Franklin
Ronnie: Greg Anderson
Didi Snavely: Jennifer Cudworth
R.R. Snavely: Larry Falck
Elmer Watkins: Kate Corea
Harold Dean Lattimer: Dakairi Hill
Bertha Bumiller: Chuck Miller
Jody Bumiller: Stephen Alan Spratt
Stanley Bumiller: Brad King
Charlene Bumiller: Kendall Kiker
Hank Bumiller: Brad Linton
Chad Hartford: Kelly Smith
Petey Fisk: Misty Hollingshed
Yippy: Chuck Miller
Leonard Childers: Desman Stackhouse
Peral Burras: Dana Harrell
Vera Carp: Rachael Jebaily
Reverand Spikes: Michael Clark
Phinas Blye: Amy Brown
Sheriff Givens: Maria Belotti
Coach: Brad Linton

Direction is by Assistant Professor of Theatre A. Glen Gourley. Scene design is by Associate Professor David C. Granath, costume design is by Assistant Professor Amy Sherwood.