By Lauren Funk

Thursday the seventeenth of November was the opening night for the play Cassandra, written and directed by our very own Mr. Doniger. There was a full house in the black box theater, filled with parents, friends, and many English students looking for extra credit. The lights dimmed and the play began. Act one started with Cassandra, played by senior Angelica Aconfora, sleeping and her lady in waiting, played by Jessica Carpenter, knitting. Within moments of the beginning it was evident that the play was written by a favorite English teacher, for the play was inspired by mythology from The Odyssey.

The costumes designed by Alyssa Rhodes were phenomenal. The dress that Polyxena, played by Julia Pryor, wore was a beautiful white gown with the top embellished with beads. And the dress worn by Iphigenia, with a low cut back and green sash, was so whimsical that it matched her part as a beautiful ghost perfectly.

Cassandra, the main character of the play, is a princess and daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba. She was captured by Apollo and he promised her, in exchange for love, the ability of prophecy. When she refused and ran away he allowed her to keep her gift, but a gift it was no longer. She was cursed with the fact that no one would ever believe her warnings about the future. She knew from the very beginning that the Greeks were hiding in the wooden horse during the Trojan War. She knew that they would emerge, destroy her city of Troy and kill her family. She knew that she would be taken as a prize for the Greek King of Agamemnon and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

In order to show the audience the visions that Cassandra was seeing, characters would come to life and act out the prophecy. The lighting and music during each of these scenes enhanced the mystical and bleak nature of Cassandra’s oracles. All of the actors had great pronunciation and projection. However, I must say, the crying was not very convincing. On the other hand, Angelica, taking on the role as a bitter daughter, gave me goose bumps as she fought with her mother, played by Magghie Warner. Cassandra defended her right to proclaim all that she knew in order to protect her people, while her mother claimed Cassandra to be mad and a disturbance to the minds of their people. Helenus, Cassandra’s brother, played by Dan Dressel, was one of the most realistic characters. He came on stage and claimed his presence over the entire audience. His character was a sympathizer for Cassandra. Although he did not have the gift of sight he had the gift of practicality. He knew the future based on facts of the present.

Both siblings, tortured by what they knew but trapped by the fact that the “Fates always win” watched as Agamemnon and his army took over their city and killed their sister, father and mother. Then Cassandra was taken by the all powerful Agamemnon, played by Tristan Mayes. Although donned in what one may call a skirt, he presented himself as very powerful and manly, as a king should be. Taking charge and grasping Cassandra’s shoulders, he claimed her as his war prize and took her to his home. There, she knew that she would be killed by his former wife Chlydemnestra, played by Christy Dzubay. To assert his power Agamemnon kissed Cassandra and the lights went dark and Act One came to a close.

In Act Two, though consumed by her imminent murder, Cassandra planned her revenge on Agamemnon for destroying her life. It is amazing how one’s own thoughts can bring more pain than any wound. Agamemnon and his army were trapped by the winds on the shore, and according to the priests, the Gods were angry and demanded a sacrifice. Agamemnon knew that they could sail, but the army believed in the Gods. So in order to carry out his plan to attack Troy, he had to make a sacrifice. He sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia, played by Natalia Riedel. She cried tears, as she gave herself up to her father. It seemed so real that the entire audience couldn’t help but have their hearts break for the sake of this fictitious character. Cassandra burned the image of Agememnon’s dead daughter into his mind until both of their deaths. Agamemnon denied Cassandra’s claims and as the argument built Cassandra shrieked “LIAR!” making the hairs on my arms stand up straight. Then she sent him on his way, tortured by his past, and Chlydemnestra came in to kill Cassandra. However, Cassandra forgave her, because she knew what it felt like to be cast aside for her entire life.

Overall, the actors were superb. I do not remember much from my freshman English class, so the play at times was hard to relate to, but the actors were what brought the script to life. There were a couple slip ups of lines, but one was due to the interruption of a cell phone in the audience. There was actually a scene that was accidentally skipped on opening night, but the play ran so smoothly that not even parents who had seen the dress rehearsal noticed.

Congratulations to the Pomperaug Theater Company. This small play is just a glimpse of how spectacular the large spring production will be.