DANBURY, CONN. — Internationally acclaimed director Leonidas Loizides will present an adaptation in English of the classical Greek playwright Aeschylus’s “Oresteia” trilogy in a performance at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 7, in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall on the Western Connecticut State University Midtown campus, 181 White St. in Danbury.

The WCSU performance will be staged as part of the current American and European tour of the “Oresteia” production organized by the Theatre Scheme of Leonidas Loizides, a nonprofit group dedicated to the dissemination of Greek culture through theatrical performance of ancient Greek drama at venues around the world. The local presentation will be sponsored by the WCSU Center for Culture and Values and by the foundation of Brookfield industrialist and philanthropist Constantine “Deno” Macricostas and his wife Marie. Admission will be free and the public is invited.

The Loizides company’s production is based on an adaptation of the Aeschylus classic by Marika Thomadaki, dean of the School of Philosophy at Kapodistrian University in Athens. Translation of the tragedies into English was provided by poet Despina Kontaxi, who published her first collection of poetry in 2007 and has received literary awards in several competitions in her native Greece. Music for the production was composed by Yannis Markopoulos and Maria Klinaki, with lyrics by Kate Nikolopoulos.

After earning a degree in film directing from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, Loizides embarked on a successful acting career in Greece before turning his professional focus to theatrical and film directing. His series of critically acclaimed stage productions in Athens have ranged from ancient tragedy to contemporary dramas. Over the past three years he has toured widely with his theatrical group in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Cyprus.

The “Oresteia” is a trilogy of tragedies first staged in 458 B.C., and stands as the only Aeschylus trilogy preserved in its entirety to the present day. The first play, “Agamemnon,” recounts the murder of King Agamemnon, commander of the Trojan campaign, upon his return home by his wife Clytemnestra. “The Libation Bearers,” second of the three tragedies, presents the reunion of Orestes and Electra, children of the murdered king and his wife, and the tragic events culminating in Orestes’ murder of his mother to avenge Agamemnon’s death. The trilogy concludes with “The Eumenides,” the story of the Furies’ pursuit of Orestes for his act of matricide and his ultimate acquittal by a jury of 11 Athenians and the goddess Athena.

For more information, contact Associate Professor of World Languages and Literature Dr. Galina Bakhtiarova at (203) 837-8734.

 

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