“Athena”

[rating=3]There are times one sees a production where the performances are wonderful, the direction is perfection and the experience, one to remember, yet, it is not a production you would suggest your best friend must see! In my case, since his son was a fencer ( not one who puts up fences, but one who duels and  crosses swords/foils in competition), I might. Writers Theatre is known for bringing us unique works for stage and I must say that “Athena” is just that. Written by Gracie Gardner, “Athena” is a play about two high school girls, as different as one can imagine, but who share two loves, “fencing” and the desire to win.

The Gillian Theatre, also thought of  as the “studio” at Writers is unique in that it is a black box theater and has the flexibility to be rearranged for every production. In “Athena” the audience is on two sides of the stage which is for the most part a narrow raised island where we witness their exchange of fencing with foils and with words. Directed by Jessica Fisch with fight choreography by Christian Kelly-Sordelet and David Blixt we see some terrific match play between the two actresses bringing these characters to life.

Let’s talk about the two fencers. Mary ( deftly handled by Aja Singletary) lives with her parents and family and is a solid student who up until now has practiced her fencing at home. Her desire to win in the nationals has forced her out of the house and to a city studio. Here she can compete against others of her age to see if in fact, she has what it takes. Athena ( a fake name, played to perfection by Mary Tidlen) is a child of a broken home, only having her father around for the most part who has little time for anything but work and smoking. Athena  feels the need to win, to prove that she has what it takes and while it is never said, has chosen the name Athena is that Athena was the Goddess of Wisdom, courage, war, strategy etc, which is representative of the  Athena in this story.

The entire play takes place over 80 minutes. During this time, we watch these two rivals, become friends as well as teachers. We also watch a transformation as each learns something from the other and while each tries to remain true to themselves, by the time they are forced to compete against each other, we can see that each has in some ways had an effect on the other and in the last 8 minutes of the play as we watch them compete to see who makes the next round, we can see just how important each has been in the others’ life.

While I myself have never fenced, I have seen some matches over the years and in this production, we come very close to seeing an actual match. I am positive that the staff had a lot to do with that, but will have to say that both Tilden and Singletary appeared very natural in their actual fencing, both in practice and in the final match. The set by Angel Sancianco was fitting for the purpose of this production and the lighting by Paul Toben gave us just the right feeling. The sound and musical composition by Mikhail Fiksel was incredible, in particular in the final match play- wow!

Lincoln Square Fencing handled the fencing and did a great job of making it appear as if these actors had truly been trained in the sport. Unlike a usual program credit, costumes in this one were fencing outfits  and actual garments that fencers use, but their street clothes ( Mieka van der Ploeg) indicate some of who they are and where they come from. I think the opinions of the reviewers will be varied for this one as it is a play that will either get to you or not. I feel it is one to see and if you have teenagers who compete in sports, you might want to ask them to join you. There are some wonderful messages that may get to them from what these competitors say and do.

“Athena” will continue at Writers Theatre, in the Gillian Theater thru July 10th with performances as follows:

Wednesdays  3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Thursdays  7:30 p.m.

Fridays  7:30 p.m.

Saturdays  3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Sundays  2 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Tickets range from $35 and are available by calling 847-242-6000 or online at www.writerstheatre.org

The theater is located at 325 Tudor Court in Glencoe with plenty of parking and an easy walk from the train station.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “Athena”.