What happened to the Trojans after the Trojan War is the basis for the one-act play, “The Trojan Women,” that Jamestown High School Drama will perform Friday, March 31, in Jamestown.
Tony McIntyre, JHS theater director and an English teacher, said the play is about how former Trojan Queen Hecuba deals with the fate of her family and Helen of Troy after the Trojans’ are defeated by the Greeks in the Trojan War.
“The play looks at the aftermath of war and explores the grief and desperation of great characters from Greek mythology,” he said.
Ashlyn Weis plays Hecuba, the queen of Troy before being defeated by the Greeks. She said she likes the play as it has a lot of strong female leads.
“Usually plays like this have strong male leads because they were the ones who fought in the war,” she said. “The females suffer a lot (in the play) because they are taken as slaves.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Weis said her favorite scene in the play is when Hecuba and Helen are confronted by Menelaus, Helen’s former Greek husband. She said Helen tries to persuade Menelaus not to kill her based on their former life together. Helen then proceeds to blame the gods, Hecuba and finally Menelaus for why the war happened.
Weis said she likes the scene because it feels like a courtroom scene, where Hecuba is the defendant and Helen is the prosecutor.
“We go back and forth and eventually clash,” she said. “I really like arguing. This scene gives me adrenaline.”
McIntyre said “The Trojan Women” gives his students a chance to work with acting styles they hadn’t recently used.
“This play allowed us to experiment and explore incredible stakes for several strong tragic heroes from classical literature,” he said. “The characters in this play serve as models for many types of characters we see in modern literature and drama.”
The students will also perform this play at the North Dakota High School Activities Association’s Class A One-Act Play Competition Monday and Tuesday, April 3-4, in Devils Lake. McIntyre said several students will perform in individual events like musical theater solo, duet and acting monologue.
Weis said she thinks Jamestown could do well in the play competition by performing “The Trojan Women.”
“It’s interesting, it’s a tragedy,” she said, “There is a lot of cause and effect.”
ADVERTISEMENT
(701) 952-8454
IF YOU GO
What: Jamestown High School Drama presents “The Trojan Women” When: 7 p.m. Friday, March 31 Where: Jamestown High School Auditorium Details: Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students. The high school activities pass will also be accepted. Before the play there will be a musical duet, an acting monologue and a musical group performance.
