The Yoh Middle Players present

THE ODYSSEY

A single-sitting adaptation  of  Homer's  classic  epic

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

A STUDY GUIDE

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

 

In storyteller theatre, the

play marks the journey of heroic

Odysseus attempting to sail back

 to Ithaca and his family after the

Trojan War.  The clever Greek hero

and his band of sailors encounter

 gods and goddesses; mysterious

creatures; monsters and giants;

 greedy men; and even those

descended into Hades.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Performance for the Public:  May 6 at 7:30 PM

Special Daytime Performance for MS:  May 7 at 12:25 PM

 

This production is a play in a single sitting.  It runs just over an hour.

There is no intermission.

The May 6 public performance at 7:30 accepts donations at the door

 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

INTRODUCTION On May 6^thand 7^th the Yoh Middle Players will be presenting The Odyssey. This adaptation of the ancient Greek poem by Homer will be an abridged and therefore one-hour version of this great masterpiece. 

The story of The Odyssey is Odysseus’ journey home after the Trojan War. After ten years of fighting, his journey home is full of hardship and tasks. He must deal with the wrath of assorted gods, fight monsters and giants, and escape a nymph and sirens. When he finally arrives home, he must rid his household of unwanted suitors that  his wife, Penelope, has been holding off in his absence.

 About working on a play with a mythological basis, actor Dylan Stuntz says “It’s fun. We get to work in a more fantasy based play, and explore a different side.” The cast is made up of ten middle school students and a trio of elementary students who are technically supported by both middle and high school Yoh Players. All of them are very excited to perform this play for the public on the evening of the 6^th and for a middle school daytime audience on the 7th.

                                    By  Chuck Harris

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

STORYTELLER THEATRE The Odyssey is presented in storyteller theatre style using a small ensemble of actors to play multiple parts.

The term storyteller theatre, in recent decades, has taken on a broad definition and seems loosely to include all theatre that uses narrative to link various episodes together. It simply defines a style of theatre that lies somewhere between storytelling and the acted-out play.

The form is probably as old as drama, but since Paul Sills' play Story Theatre, the style has taken on a more pronounced form wherein actors simultaneously tell and act the story; they can serve as characters and narrators and blends this it with the basic elements of theatre: dialogue, sound, movement, and improvisation.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

ODYSSEUS as HERO The character of Odyssey has virtually served as definition of the western culture’s hero.  To learn more about “Odysseus, the Hero”, link to this fine one page description                                         http://library.thinkquest.org/19300/data/Odyssey/odysseus.htm

 Changing the same thinkquest link to end in odysseus2.htm will lead you to a four page print out of “The Hero’s Journey and Character Arc.”

Changing the same link to end in virtodyssey1.htm and continuing to change through successive numbers until you reach virtodyssey10.htm will provide you with a 21 page print out of “Virtual Odyssey” which traces the complete action of the story with text and images.

Also from thinkquest comes the “Travels of Odysseus” but changing the ending to voyage1.htm.  Following the first link through successive numbers until you reach voyage8.htm, you will find 8 maps that trace the journey of Odysseus going to the Trojan War and then home to Ithaca. A brief passage of text ranging from one paragraph to three accompanies each map and explains the action that takes place.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>HOMER  Wikipedia offers six printed pages at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer on the 8^th century Homer who is the poet credited with creating the epic poems of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Wikipedia makes clear that the lack of definitive evidence about the legitimacy of Homer as the single author of these great works makes it difficult to know which information we have is simply  legendary and which is actually historical.  

The Wikipedia story of Homer, perhaps a blind poet, includes problems of authorship definition of Homeric studies, a paragraph on Homeric dialect, and description of Homeric style.  It continues with a brief passage on history and the Iliad, the Hero cult, and works ascribed to Homer.      

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

PEOPLE mentioned in The Odyssey

Aeolus:  a mortal king whom Zeus has appointed to be keeper of the winds.

Apollo: son of Zeus, the Sun god, twin brother to his sister Artimus, goddess of the hunt and wild things; god of ideal male beauty; his symbols are the sun, the lyre and the bow.

Antinous: the insolent leader of the suitors for Penelope’s hand

Anticleia: the mother of Odysseus;  he encounter in Hades when he is there.

Athene: daughter of Zeus, goddess of wisdom and patroness of the arts.

Also known as Pallas Athena, she was goddess of wisdom and war and defender of the City of Athens and heroes..  Odysseus was her favorite and protégé.

Circe: the enchantress who transforms the crew of Odysseus into pigs; when she finds

that she cannot conquer Odysseus, helps him with advice and supplies on

his voyage  home.

 

Eurylochus: one of Odysseus’ officers; a sober person who wisely avoids entering    

Circe’s palace, but who foolishly joins other sailors when they kill one of Apollo’s

golden cows.

Eurymachus:  one of the suitors for Penelope’s hand

Hermes: son of Zeus, the ambassador of the gods, conductor of the dead souls to Hades,

and patron of travelers, merchants and thieves.

Hylax: one of Odysseus’ crew who is turned into a pig by the enchantress Circe.

Ktessipos: One of the suitors for Penelope’s hand

Laertes: the old father of Odysseys who lives in isolation from the demands of public life, on a

small farm in the back hills of Ithaca.  He remains alert and agile, despite his age.

Minos: Mythical king of Crete

Odysseus: king of Ithaca, husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, son of Laertes;  he is the first

of the Greek epic heroes to be renowned for his brain as well as his muscle.

 

Penelope: the wife of Odysseus;  she is serious and industrious, a perfect wife and mother in

many aspects.

Peremides: one of Odysseus’ crew who is turned into a pig by the enchantress Circe.

Perites: one of Odysseus’ crew who rides the prow of the boat.

Perse: Daughter of the Ocean

Polites: one of Odysseus’ crew who is overtaken by the Cyclops.

Polyphemus: A one-eyed Cyclops, son of Poseidon, who holds Odysseus and his men captive in his

 cave until he is made drunk and blinded by Odysseus.

Poseidon: younger brother of Zeus, god of the sea and earthquakes, father of Polyphemus, the Cyclops;  because Odysseus is a sailor and must travel home by ship, Poseidon is able to do him much harm.  The god bears a grudge against him because of his rough treatment of Polyphemus.

Scylla: a sea monster with six heads whom Odysseus and his crew must pass during their voyage.

Sirens: beautiful maidens who dwell in a flowery meadow on an island somewhere between that of Circe and of Scylla; they tempt passing mariners to their deaths by their tantalizing songs.

Telemachus: the son of Odysseys and Penelope; he is just entering manhood and is very self-conscious about his duty and his father’s reputation as a hero which he feels he must live up to.

Tiresias: the most famous of all Greek seers (prophets); the legend was that in compensation for his blindness, the gods had given Tiresias his awesome visionary powers;  his spirit is consulted by Odysseus in Hades.

Zeus: the supreme god and king of Olympus, home of the gods; he is officially neutral in human affairs; his duty is to carry out the will of Destiny, but he is often sympathetic towards humans.

 

PLACES mentioned in The Odyssey

Aeaea: the island home of the enchantress Circe

Aeolia: a floating island home of Aelous, king of the winds.

Capri: island home of the Sirens

Crete: Island home of the Minataur and King Minos

Hades: the land of the dead.

Ithaca: the island kingdom of Odysseus. 

River Styx: the river that separates the land of the living from the land of the dead

River of Lamentations: one of the rivers that surrounds the underworld

River of Flaming Fire: One of the rivers that surrounds the underworld

Thrinacia: island home to the cattle of the sun god, Apollo

Troy: a kingdom destroyed by the Greeks in the Trojan War. 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS from ART DARTS, the Standard

The Yoh Middle Players are pleased to present on the evening of Tuesday, May 6 at 7:30

PM in Yoh theatre-Auditorium, a storyteller theatre adaptation of Homer’s epic story of

 

THE ODYSSEY.  An ensemble of actors will play multiple roles to mark the journey of 

heroic Odysseus (Dylan Stuntz) attempting to sail back to Ithaca and his wife Penelope

(Katherine Leavitt) and son Telemachus (Jacob Newberry) after the Trojan War.  The

clever Greek hero and his band of sailors (Laura Boyd, Cayleigh Heitsmith, Miranda Holson, 

Samantha Van de Ven, and Griffin Boswell) encounter gods and goddesses (Evan Newberry, 

Nathan Tolosky, Alex Vutech, Griffin Boswell, and Abigail Levinson).  The cast, changing 

roles from episode to episode, proceed to become the other mysterious creatures, monsters, giants, 

and greedy men—even some descended into Hades--who thwart or assist the determined Odysseus 

as he presses ever homeward for nearly two decades. 

The just over one-hour performance presents adventures with Athena, the Cyclops, the suitors for Penelope’s hand, Circe, the Sirens, King Aeolus on the Island of Winds, Apollo and his golden cows, Charybdis the whirlpool, Scylla the six- headed monster, The blind prophet Tieresias in Hades, Zeus, Hermes, and Poseidon.

The wonderful stage environment for THE ODYSSEY was created by cast, Mr. Mike

Young, and Mr. Cameron Ewasko.  Mythic costumes and props were designed by Mrs. 

Mary Lou Ewasko and developed by Mrs. Michelle Van de Ven, Mrs. Rachel Kahn,

Mrs. Diana Brown, with student costumer Lea Stephenson.  Lighting was designed by 

Brandon Doyle and developed with Charlie Kahn.  Sound was designed by Harry Borsh.  Prop designs were by Cameron Ewasko. Special assistance was given by Heather Rameau, Caitlin Bernard, 

Julie Boyd, Kati Borsh, Chuck Harris, Julian Scherding, and Alex Abraham.  Technical supervision was provided by Andrew Kennedy and Mr. Chuck Worrell. Stage Managers are

 Stephanie Stanglin and Jocelyn Kennedy.  

The production is directed by Mrs. Harriet Worrell.

_______________________________________________________________________