Theatre Arts students stage ‘The Bakkhai’ April 18–21

McDaniel College Theatre Arts students perform in a new translation of “The Bakkhai,” Euripides’s classical Greek tragedy about the struggle to the death between freedom and restraint, the rational and the irrational, man and God.

BAKKHAI onstage performance. — McDaniel College Theatre Arts students perform in a new translation of “The Bakkhai,” Euripides’s classical Greek tragedy about the struggle to the death between freedom and restraint, the rational and the irrational, man and God.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students, seniors (over 60), active military members and veterans, as well as those with a McDaniel College ID. For tickets, call 410-857-2448.

This new translation of “The Bakkhai” is by award-winning classics scholar, poet and writer Anne Carson. The McDaniel production is directed by Theatre Arts chair Elizabeth van den Berg with McDaniel Theatre Arts professor Ira Domser as the set designer. This is Domser’s final production before retiring from McDaniel.

According to van den Berg, her inspiration for choosing this play was both the Women’s March and the election of Donald Trump.

“The women of Thebes have gone mad with the worship of Dionysos, and the newly minted arrogant King Pentheus will have none of it. Desperate to control his kingdom, he laughs in the face of the god. I’m excited to bring this lively contemporary version of this ancient Greek Tragedy to life on our stage,” she said.

The cast includes seniors Bryan Bowen of North Beach, Md.; Torreke Evans of Atlanta; Andrew Frascella of Olney, Md.; Brandon Richards of Huntingtown, Md.; Megan Smith of Federalsburg, Md.; Alex Tolle of Woodstock, Md., and juniors Matthew Boykin-Derrill of Baltimore and Jen Willard of North Potomac, Md.

Others in the cast are sophomores Kara Coffman of Westminster, Md.; Olivia Michel of New York; Anna Rozier of Westport, Conn.; Kevin Tyson, Jr., of Baltimore and Patsy Zetkulic of Arlington, Va., and freshmen Vanessa Bliss of Reston, Va.; Mikayla Braswell of Germantown, Md.; Zack Callis of Damascus, Md.; Karly Congero of Lavallette, N.J.; Matt Foley of Fair Lawn, N.J.; Lauren McKenna of Sykesville, Md.; Anna Odell of Abingdon, Md., and Danielle Taylor of Lewes, Del.

Joseph Fox, a senior from Hurlock, Md., is the light designer.

Megan Smith (left), a senior from Federalsburg, Md., and Torreke Evans, a senior from Atlanta, perform in “The Bakkhai” April 18–21 at 7:30 p.m. in WMC Alumni Hall.