California Lutheran University’s Theater & Dance Department performed “The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza,” a student-directed play by junior Brayden Galante featuring two students making a last-minute presentation on 10 Greek mythological tales.
The play ran from Wednesday, Oct. 18 to Sunday, Oct. 22, and featured Greek myths such as “Jason and the Argonauts” and “Creation of Man.”
“While it does have a lot of accuracy to Greek mythology, it kinda bends the rules in some places,” Galante said.
According to Galante, the play was meant to be a comedy with a range of fun elements that are not supposed to be taken too seriously. He said he had a vision after reading the script, which included ideas on how to display the content and material.
“This production has some of the coolest people in our department working on it. This is pretty much completely student done and every student I’ve worked with has gone above and beyond. It’s amazing,” Prop Designer Elle Jarrett said.
Galante said when he read the script, the show felt more audience-immersive and he wanted to incorporate the audience in the show, which is why it was held in the Black Box Theatre.
The play begins with Narrator #1, portrayed by senior Cassandra Washburn, performing a presentation on Greek mythology with an unprepared project partner, Narrator #2, portrayed by senior Logan Soforenko.
“I’m the goofy one so basically we tell the whole story…he’s a goofball but he knows one story in the entire show and it’s The Iliad,” Soforenko said.
The design process, Galante said, started in early August. Auditions were held the first week of September and rehearsals started the week after, leaving the cast and crew with about a month to construct the play.
Jarrett said there were three different types of props to simulate a high school presentation. Among these, she said, are props the narrators find from the lost and found, props made the night before the presentation and props the narrators find interesting to use.
Soforenko said the cast enjoyed throwing their props from all over the theater, including the roof, stage, and between characters to create a more immersive experience for the audience.
Jarrett said one of her contributions to the play was to gather multiple rubber ducks that represent the Greek and Trojan armies.
According to Lighting Designer Kira Daehlin, the lighting helped give context to the play. As there are not many set pieces, Daehlin said the abstract lighting of the show created better environments, moods and tone for the play.
Costume Designer and junior Zoe Monge said the show has many fun, colorful, and quirky costumes that have a one-time use based on which presentation they belong to.
Among finding and making costumes for the play, Monge said they collaborated with Set Designer and sophomore James Yocute to design the helmets seen in the show.
The Theater & Dance Department’s next event is “Radium Girls”, a mainstage production directed by Professor of Drama Kenneth Gardner. The first “Radium Girls” show is on Thursday, Nov. 9 at the Preus-Brandt Forum.
