Classical Theatre Company Presents MEDEA As Part of Its 2023-2024 Mainstage Season

A 2016 winner of the prestigious National Theatre Company Grant Award by the American Theatre  Wing, Classical Theatre Company (CTC) has announced the lineup for its 2023-2024 16th Mainstage Season. As the only professional theatre company in the State of Texas that solely  produces classical drama on a year-round basis, CTC only produces plays that are 100 or more years  old. 

The Classical Theatre Company will start out the 2023-24 season with the powerful Greek tragedy  by the master playwright, Euripides. CTC has not produced a Greek tragedy since its inaugural  2008-2009 season with Antigone. The powerful story, drawn from Greek myth, highlights the  relationship between Medea and her hero husband of Argonaut fame, Jason. Medea, a sorceress and princess of a foreign land, was married to Jason when he – with Medea's aid – successfully  completed three tasks laid out for him by Medea's father, the King of Colchis. As ever, the goddess  Hera interfered and bewitched Medea into falling in love with Jason so that she might help him in  his tasks. Upon completion, they were married and Jason brought Medea back to Greece with him. 

They had two children together, but in time, Jason grew tired of Medea and turned his eyes on a new  princess, and as such, Medea's position in Greece grows tenuous since she hails from a foreign land.  Medea plots to get her revenge on Jason and his new bride in a tale that will have audiences' heads spinning. 

“This play has very strong feminist themes running throughout it. Not just the male – female dynamic, and husband – wife dynamic, but the societal status of women when they are abandoned  by men and the role of mothers and motherhood,” says director John Johnston. “The fact of the  matter is that Medea represents 'The Other.' She is someone who isn't from Greece and she's utterly  reliant on Jason for her standing in Greece. When he abandons her, she loses not only her husband, but her adoptive home. I'm very excited to dive into this rich and historic text that echoes all the  way to the current day, with women's rights being debated on the floors of state houses across the  country.” 

Directed by CTC Executive Artistic Director, John Johnston, who most recently directed and  translated last year's critically successful The Marriage of Figaro, and appeared on CTC's stage when he  portrayed Joseph Surface in The School for Scandal. 

The Classical Theatre Company is dedicated to boldly re-envisioning classical drama on the stage, in  the community, and in the classroom through engaging and enlightening plays - bringing them new  life and relevance while maintaining the integrity that the works deserve. 

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