Classical Theatre Company's 2023-24 Season Highlights A Pair Of Notable Female Roles 

A 2016 winner of the prestigious National Theatre Company Grant Award by the American  Theatre Wing, Classical Theatre Company 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. 

CTC will be marking its upcoming season with a pair of plays that stars two of the most  iconic female characters in the classical canon. CTC will be returning to the iconic DeLuxe  Theater in the historic Fifth Ward. Both Mainstage productions will be housed in this gem  of a facility. After opening in 1941 as a movie theater, the DeLuxe spent decades as a  landmark location for film. Then in 2015, an agreement with the City of Houston and the  Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation brought about major renovations to  the DeLuxe, bringing it new life as a state-of-the-art performance venue, event hall, and art  gallery. Classical Theatre Company is proud to have the DeLuxe Theater as its performance  space for the upcoming season. Tickets will go on sale July 1. 

The upcoming season's slate will kick off in September with the ancient Greek tragedy, Medea by Euripides. Then, in the spring, the season will wrap up with Shakespeare's raucous  comedy, The Taming of the Shrew. “We haven't delved into Greek tragedy since our first season when we produced Antigone,” says CTC Executive Artistic Director John Johnston. “And it will have been more than eight years since we produced a Shakespeare piece. It's long  overdue, in my opinion. Plus, we have an embarrassment of riches in Houston theatre right  now with a great number of powerful female actors. We wanted to help showcase that with  our season.”

 

Medea 

By Euripides 

Directed by John Johnston September 2023 

The Classical Theatre Company will start out the 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, Jason. Medea, the princess of a foreign  land, was married to Jason when he 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 aid 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 grows tired of Medea and turns 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.  “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 The Marriage of Figaro, and appeared on CTC's stage when he  portrayed Joseph Surface in The School for Scandal 

 

The Taming of the Shrew 

 

By William Shakespeare 

April 2023 

The spring production will be a sharp contrast to Classical Theatre Company's tragic fall  offering in the form of Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew. CTC has not produced  any Shakespeare play since Henry V in 2015, and has not produced a Shakespeare comedy  since The Merchant of Venice in 2013. 

The Taming of the Shrew follows the story of Katherine who is being sold off as a wife by her  father to the highest bidder. Her boldness and stubborn streak have made her unmarriable by society, but her sister, Bianca, cannot marry until the elder sister has been so. 

 

“This play is my favorite Shakespeare comedy,” says CTC Executive Artistic Director John  Johnston. “But it's got some problematic aspects that don't really play at face value for a modern audience. The idea of a woman being 'tamed' by a man to be married is creepy at  best. So, to address this issue, our production is going to set the play as a mid-century  sitcom. Using the script to explore the values that we once held in our popular culture, and  do still to this day, in some respects. Our goal is to examine and critique the treatment of  women rather than glorify it, and the play-within-the-play will help us to do that.” 

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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