Classic Greek anti-war comedy to be performed in Black Box Theatre

The April 10-12 performances begin at 7:30 p.m. The April 13 matinee is at 2 p.m. All performances are in the Black Box Theatre. Mature Audiences only, adult themes and language. Contact the Box Office for tickets at 308-432-6207 or boxoffice@csc.edu.

See interviews with the actors in "Behind the Scenes" on the CSC theatre department’s webpage.

Roger Mays, Chadron State College theater faculty member and director of the play, said, “We are not trying to offend anyone, but at its heart this play is about ’make love not war’.”

He feels that this 2,425-year-old play with elements feminism, anti-war, and politics still rings true and holds messages for us even in this modern age. He said the play will last less than an hour.

The play takes place in the year 411 B.C. during the Peloponnesian war in Athens. Fed up with the war, the women take up the charge of ending it themselves.

Lysistrata devises the plan to have all the wives withhold sex from their husbands to get them to listen to what the women have to say. As time goes on she must also make her fellow wives hold fast to the promise they made.

The play by Aristophanes was adapted by Ellen McLaughlin in 2003. It holds true to classic Greek plays with choruses to narrate the story in between the episodic content.