Jen Bashian ’08 played lead Cassandra in the student production of “Troy Women” from November 1-3. PHOTO/Laura Stephenson '09

From Thursday, November 1, to Saturday, November 3, students performed the play “Troy Women” on the mainstage at the Paul Mellon Arts Center. “Troy Women” is set in the aftermath of the Trojan War, taking place after the events of The Iliad, from the perspective of the royal women of Troy. The production portrayed the imprisonment of the women, and their grief for Troy and for their dead husbands and sons.

But the Choate production put an interesting twist on the story: “Troy Women” was set in the modern day Middle East. The play was written by Karen Hartman, and directed by Tracy Ginder-Delventhal. And thanks to a generous $200,000 donation from the Katz Family Foundation, “Troy Women” was the first production that Choate students could watch free of charge. The free tickets increased the number of students who came to watch the production; the total number of audience members over the three nights was between 800 and 1000.

The cast of “Troy Women” started rehearsala the first week of school, and worked diligently on the play up until the performances. Because of the thematic nature of “Troy Women,” the daily rehearsals were emotionally exhausting for the actors and actresses.

Ms. Ginder-Delventhal, the director, noted, “The hardest part of production was that it was difficult for the students to connect with the horror that is war. But nobody ever shied away from that commitment; they were tremendously dedicated.” Through these difficult rehearsals, the cast also grew closer to each other. Chris Bakes ’10 (who played Talthybius, a Greek herald) said, ‘…in the process, our cast transformed from a group of students into a very tight family.”

The purpose of the play was to make students think about the consequences of wars, such as war in Iraq today. “This is not an easy play to watch, but my objective in doing it was for [the school] to think about the real ramifications of warfare,” said Ginder-Delventhal. “I’ve been thinking about doing this play for years, but I made the choice to start it because of [the war in] Iraq.”

Bakes added, “The show was so much fun to work on—not to mention an effective way to provide a living, breathing example of some horrors of war. While the show was politically influenced, and very much so, I believe that it was the kind of truth that people need to see.”

“Troy Women” may have seemed depressing to some, but it helped many of the students who watched to start thinking about how people of all different races are affected by war. Bakes further stated, “Tracy's goal for this show was to impact the audience—for those who saw the play to exit the theater and continue to think about what they had just seen. If people give the show a moment, day, week, month, or perhaps a lifetime of reflection, [that] is all Tracy and we, the cast of Troy Women, ask.”