Local Jewish theater to present interpretation of ‘Antigone’

A talented cast of only four – including two IU students, along with locally known director and actors – will perform on stage in the two-hour production “Another Antigone” at the Rose Firebay room in the John Waldron Arts Center tonight and tomorrow night.\nThe show, hosted by the Bloomington Area Arts Council, features local actors Jack O’Hara and Carmen Meyers and IU students Taylor St. John and Esther Widlanski in a “modern interpretation” of Sophocles’ “Antigone.” The play follows the family history of Oedipus, the king of Thebes.\nThe play, produced by the Jewish Theatre of Bloomington, will begin at 8 p.m. at the Waldron Art Center and is open to the public, said Audrey Heller, the co-artistic director of the Jewish Theatre of Bloomington.\n“The play was designed for college students in the Jewish community,” Heller said. “It battles issues of anti-Semitism and one professor’s bias against a Jewish student.” \nThe play takes place in a college setting, where a female Jewish student has enrolled in a classics course. Her professor gives her an assignment to write a screenplay about Sophocles, but she refuses and writes an “anti-nuclear version” of Sophocles’ “Antigone,” Heller said.\nWhen professor Henry Harper, played by O’Hara, refuses to accept her screenplay, there is a clashing and a conflict of interest. Ultimately, the dean of the school finds that the professor might have had an anti-Semitic past. The student is allowed to produce her play and offer it to students around the campus, Heller said.\nTickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and will be available at the door prior to the show, according to a press release. \nFor more information or to purchase tickets online, visit www.bloomingtonarts.info.