ArtsWest To Present ATHENA This Spring
ATHENA performs at ArtsWest from April 10 – May 4, 2025.
By: A.A. Cristi Mar. 13, 2025
ArtsWest will present ATHENA by Gracie Gardner, directed by Kathryn Van Meter. The cast features Anteia DeLaney (Mary Wallace) and Allison Renee (Athena). ATHENA performs at ArtsWest from April 10 – May 4, 2025. Tickets are available online at artswest.org or by phone at (206) 938.0963.
Mary Wallace and Athena are both seventeen-year-old fencers training for Nationals. Mary Wallace lives in a house in New Jersey, loves marine biology and practices at home. Athena lives in an apartment in New York City, takes acne medication and Athena is not her real name. Follow their journey from competitors to confidantes as they form a bond navigating the milestones of adolescence, training together only to learn the future is only certain for one of them.
During ArtsWest's 2024 – 2025 Season, the company presents five productions that are THEATER PLUS; theater plus something unexpected, something out of the ordinary, something you can't experience anywhere else.
ArtsWest's fourth production of the season, ATHENA, is theater plus live fencing. In order to stage ATHENA with authenticity, ArtsWest is presenting ATHENA in collaboration with Salle Auriol Fencing Club. Salle Auriol is a non-profit fencing club located in Interbay. Their mission is to train participants in the sport of modern Olympic fencing and to provide a venue for fencers to develop those skills towards participation in local, regional, national and international competition. Salle Auriol is recognized and respected as a nationally and internationally competitive club with activities and programs designed for fencers of all experience levels and ages.
“We're thrilled to be partnering with the team at Salle Auriol to bring Gracie Gardner's gorgeous play to life,” says Producing Artistic Director, Mathew Wright. “Our audiences love theater that is intimate and emotionally athletic, so producing something that is both a metaphorical and literal sparring match is such a natural fit. Watching these two young women navigate growing up in our culture while smack in the middle of live fencing matches is such unique and exciting theater.”
ATHENA's cast features two recent Cornish College of the Arts graduates, Anteia DeLaney (Spring Awakening, The 5th Avenue Theater) and Allison Renee (The Two Gentleman of Verona, Seattle Shakespeare). In this action-packed production that centers female friendship, actor Allison Renee shares, “Anteia and I not only went to college together, but we played opposites in a production my first year, we were roommates, and we were in Cabaret together my third year— that was also directed by Kathryn Van Meter! It's quite the full circle moment!”
ArtsWest will present ATHENA Thursday through Saturday at 7:30pm and Saturday through Sunday at 3pm.͏
Comments
Videos