On Community Day panelists spoke of the shared experience of Year I Seminar and its cohesive effect on Year Is and IIs. Although it was conceived before the discussion, the recent student production of Euripides’ The Bacchae proved to be not only a provocative extrapolation of this theme, but hilarious too.

The audience was instantly captivated by the modernized and humor-ized version of the Greek tragedy, adapted and directed by Year II students Leah Hennessey and Laura Atlas, who played Pentheus/Agave and Dionysus respectively. The blind seer Teiresias was portrayed by Year II Henry Shapiro, a daunting figure in a massive fur coat. His character, however, became less intimidating when he partook in a bag of Cheerios offered by Cadmus (Year I Max Lakner) and employed the blues to explain the strange happenings to hapless Pentheus.

The dialogue was colloquial, though faithful to Euripides in most of the important parts. Anachronism was at the perfect level, with Pentheus pulling off a wonderful cross pollination of CEO and dictator (and in doing so drawing a nice connection). The Messenger, comically portrayed by 9th grader Nathan J. Campbell, wore a “Bacchae in Black” t-shirt.

All this was framed by set decorations admirably hung about creating a mythical fantasyland. The curtains were draped in layers of brightly colored, patterned cloth and the skirt of the stage was covered in handmade flora, perfect ambience for the artsy teenager’s bedroom and Bacchants' playground alike. One downside of the prominent curtains was too much action occurred in shadows and sometimes there appeared to be competition for floor space among actors.

Sometimes monologues didn’t seem to work so well because much of the humor came from character interaction. Indeed, each character had well developed idiosyncrasies including speech, posture, and gesticulation. The large majority of the cast did justice to the brilliantly crafted comedy, with the exception of a few who were unable to control their mirth.

The Bacchants – the female worshippers of Dionysus – were striking in their outlandish wardrobe and antics. The girls (Alex Tatarsky, Max Chan, Carey Dunne, Stella Jones, Franchesca Morel, Sarah Mount, Lila El Naggar, and Molly Segell) cavorted about the stage, dancing with fervent enthusiasm. They brought the whole play together, joining the scenes with their outrageous frolics and enchanting the audience.

The Bacchae was a kaleidoscope of talent and dedication, myth and realism. Produced solely on student initiative, it was remarkably put-together and one can only hope it will spark a legacy of future Greek tragicomedic productions.