As part of ATT's 2014 Euripides summer series, American Thymele Theatre is presenting its New York Euripides Summer Festival with five free, fully staged performances of Euripides' "Andromache" in three different stages in New York City from July 28-August 2.
"Andromache" is set in front of the temple of Thetis in Phthia, Thessaly. Andromache, the widow of Hector, is now given to Achilles' son Neoptolemus when the spoils of the Trojan War were divided. Neoptolemus made Andromache his slave and concubine, and they had a son, Molossus. Later, Neoptolemus married Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen, who had earlier been betrothed to Orestes. The envious Hermione threatens to kill Andromache's son, before justice is served through divine intercession. Leanne Gonzalez-Singer heads a cast of eighteen in the title role.
"Andromache" could be regarded as a political or propaganda play, attacking Sparta and the Delphic oracle of Apollo, which had predicted a Spartan victory in the Peloponnesian War. This original Euripidean play (ca. 426 B.C.) is the source for
Jean Racine's play "Andromaque" (1667) and other works such as Ambrose Philips' tragedy "The Distressed Mother" (1712),
Gioacchino Rossini's opera "Ermione" (1819),
Charles Baudelaire's poem "Le Cygne" ("The Swan," 1859), and Craig Raine's drama "1953"(1990). Originally intended to be performed only once almost 2,500 years ago in Athens, "Andromache" marks American Thymele Theatre's 21st year and the 6th successive summer season of the New York Euripides Summer Festival.
"Andromache" is among the numerous dramas that Euripides wrote whose titles bear names of women, probably making Euripides the world's first advocate of what we know today as women's rights, by dramatizing the difficult role that women had to endure in antiquity, always making his women stronger figures than the men in his tragedies.
This genre of theatrical expression encompasses areas such as ancient history, mythology, music, and dramatic poetry at its best, all interwoven with marvelous lyricism, Greek culture, education, and rarely-offered free entertainment, as presented in the quality, traditional approach that has characterized American Thymele Theatre in its twenty one-year existence.
ATT adheres to some essential elements of ancient Greek theatre, as employed in its initial New York Euripides Summer Festival production of "Rhesus" in 2009, namely in presenting such works in daylight time, in an amphitheater setting, without intermission, and free of charge to the public. True to ATT's traditional, classically stylized staging, Stephen Diacrussi directs this theatrical rarity, probably considered Euripides' least frequently produced work.
Five free performances of "Andromache" will be performed in the following three different stages from July 28th-August 2nd:
Monday and Tuesday, July 28th and 29th at 6:00 p.m. at the
EAST RIVER PARK AMPHITHEATRE
(FDR Drive overpass at Cherry Street to East River Park, south of Delancey Street)
Wednesday and Thursday, July 30th and 31st at 6:00 p.m. at the
JACKIE ROBINSON PARK BANDSHELL
(Bradhurst Avenue at 148th Street)
Saturday, August 2nd at 8:00 p.m. at
THE GLICKER-MILSTEIN THEATRE
(3009 Broadway at 118th Street, Diana Center Building)
RESERVATIONS ARE RECOMMENDED FOR
THE GLICKER-MILSTEIN THEATRE
Reservations for the August 2nd performance are available through SmartTix: http://tinyurl.com/andromachetickets Also, by calling: 1-212-868-4444
