PDQ Bach may have placed Iphigenia in Brooklyn, but Christopher Grabowski will be staging Iphigenia And Other Daughters in Portland, ME, March 2-23. This adaptation, from various myths and sources, is by Angels In America actress Ellen McLaughlin. The star is Lecy Goranson, best known as Becky on TV's "Roseanne."
Alicia ("Lecy") Goranson is now a Vassar Graduate and has appeared in The Bacchae, Wilder! Wilder! Wilder!; The Electra Project and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Other members of the cast include Babo Harrison, Hamish Linklater, Irene McDonnell and Jane Nichols (Clytemnestra). In the chorus are 4 young Portlanders: Rebecca Hackett, Katharine Nelson, Sarah Nelson and Sarah "Squid" Lord.
Grabowski's concept is to remove the men as the focal point and give the piece a 20th century, feminine point of view. Spokesperson Katharine Tyson says the play isn't set in any particular period, but the story and language have been contemporized. It's the tale of Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, and her daughters Electra, Chrysothemis and Iphigenia. The play was first produced at NY's Classic Stage Company in 1995.
Said director Grabowski, making his debut at Portland Stage, "I keep doing these Greek plays...there is so much depth." Grabowski is Director of Theatre at Vassar, and past credits include five years as associate artistic director of NY Theatre Workshop (NYTW).
Ellen McLaughlin's other plays include Days And Nights Within, A Narrow Bed (produced in 1987 at NYTW) and Infinity's House. Designers for Iphigenia are Christopher Akerlind (lighting) and Anita Stewart (set/costumes).
For tickets ($18-$29) and information on Iphigenia at Portand Stage on Forest Ave., opening March 6, call (207) 774-0465.
In other Iphigenia news, McLaughlin's adaptation will also be staged at Connecticut Repertory Theatre in Storrs, opening April 3. That mounting, directed by artistic director Gary English, stars Robert Cameron, Beth Carusillo, Laura Celentano, Samantha Cosmas, Emily Donnelly, Laura Ionata, Kelly Lafferty, Melissa Nedell, Clare O'Connor and Renea Stanchfield. For tickets ($10-$12) and information on the Storrs Iphigenia, running April 4-13, call (860) 486-3969.
--By David Lefkowitz
