William Shakespeare stares sternly from large banners on a rehearsal room's walls at Oglethorpe University's Conant Performing Arts Center. Methinks he's miffed that Georgia Shakespeare isn't working up "Macbeth" or "Othello," but instead is updating a Greek classic, Homer's "The Odyssey."
But this is exactly as the 25-year-old Atlanta troupe likes it -- to be stretched from time to time beyond its Bard-centric comfort zone. Producing artistic director Richard Garner and his cast are busily preparing for "The Odyssey: a Journey Home," an adaptation that draws parallels between Odysseus' return from the Trojan War and contemporary soldiers returning from distant conflicts.
Opening Friday night, the drama kicks off "The Icarus Project," a 10-year program that will produce company-generated or company-adapted work, giving Georgia Shakespeare's artists an opportunity to, well, spread their wings.
Several know-it-alls pointed out to Garner that the project's name has a bit of negative connotation, given that Icarus flew too close to the sun and crashed to his death. Up to speed on his Greek mythology, Garner says he meant the name to embody "the moment when Icarus is reaching the most, that moment before the wings melt."
A week before the opening, the cast frequently seemed to be somewhere between soar and melt, pausing to trim, clarify or debate lines as the actors spoke them and struggling to steer a new, uncooperative hospital gurney for Odysseus. There was a sense of nervous urgency, since the troupe had exactly the same amount of time, four weeks, to whip the adaptation into final form that it did, say, for summer's "King Lear." But at the same time, there was a buzz of high-wire excitement.
"It's a ton of fun, especially when you've got a room full of committed artists who are game, who are on it," said Joe Knezevich, the 12-year Georgia Shakespeare ensemble vet who is in virtually every scene in the role of Odysseus. "You get 10 good artists together thinking, and it's true that 10 heads are better than one."
Still, Knezevich acknowledged: "We're definitely feeling the clock ticking. It's just the kind of process that wants more time."
Garner, who this summer directed Theatrical Outfit's hit production of "A Confederacy of Dunces," marshaling another difficult epic from a different era to the stage, said he consulted on company-adapted works with a troupe known for them, Chicago's highly regarded Lookingglass Theatre.
"They've got it down to a science, and we just don't," he lamented. "... But it's been a much less stressful process than I thought it would be."
That's because Garner knew he could bank on an experienced cast of collaborators, including Knezevich, Chris Kayser (21st season) as Zeus, Carolyn Cook (16th) as Athena and Neal A. Ghant (sixth) as Poseidon.
Yet even before he got with the actors, he consulted, sans script, with Georgia Shakespeare's designers. That made sense given that "Odyssey" demands many feats of stagecraft to bring that ol' one-eye, Cyclops, to life along with a six-headed monster and various sirens and demons.
An Army brat whose father served for 21 years, Garner had wanted to stage "The Odyssey," which he considers "an inherently theatrical piece," for a long time. That idea gained traction a couple of seasons ago when Georgia Shakespeare surveyed teachers about play preferences for fall, when the company offers student matinees, and "The Odyssey" scored high.
That led him back to the book. "As soon as I got back to reading it, ... I was struck by, man, this has so many contemporary ties." The continuing headlines, including the recent coverage of four veteran suicides in one week at Fort Hood in central Texas, only adds to his feeling that Homer's classic resonates still.
While he wanted to keep the original at his adaptation's center, he also sought a way to tell the contemporary soldier's homecoming story around it. In short order, connections began clicking.
Lighting designer Mike Post, who had taught at the University of Southern Mississippi, had kept in touch with a former student and vet who had a blog, Blake's War Journal (www.blake.armedforcesfamilies.com). It became an inspiration for the development of the modern-day warrior character.
After attending a documentary about post-traumatic stress disorder, Garner told the filmmaker about the parallel he wanted to draw between Homer's and today's returning soldiers and found out about a 2003 book that does exactly that: clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay's "Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming."
Finally, Garner linked up with the ArtReach Foundation, an Atlanta nonprofit that provides therapy to children from war-torn countries and returning veterans. It was while meeting with two ArtReach leaders, who talked about the role of family and community in a veteran's transition, that Garner realized his ending was plain wrong.
It had suggested a rapid healing for his hero. Now there’s a quiet moment between the vet and his family that implies the hard work has just begun.
Theater preview
"The Odyssey: a Journey Home"
Opens Friday night, through Oct. 31 $15-$45. Appropriate for ages 12 and up. Georgia Shakespeare, Oglethorpe University campus, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Atlanta. 404-264-0020, www.gashakespeare.org.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
