Denison Theatre presents ‘Big Love’

The Department of Theatre presents "Big Love," written by American playwright Charles L. Mee and directed by Eleni Papaleonardos.

Notice: this information is for a past event.
Ticket Info:
Free to Denison students, faculty and staff. General admission $8, Senior Citizen $5, Non-Denison students $4. Tickets may be reserved by calling the box office at 740-587-6544.
Sponsor(s):
Theatre
Photo for promotion of the play “Big Love,” written by American playwright Charles L. Mee and directed by Eleni Papaleonardos

“Big Love” 

  • Written by Charles Mee 
  • Asst. Prof. Eleni Papaleonardos, Director 
  • Assoc. Prof. Cynthia Turnbull, Costume Designer 
  • Liz Droessler, Scenic & Lighting Designer & Vail Artist-in-Residence 
  • Brian David Evans, Fight Choreographer & Vail Artist-in-Residence 
  • Andrew Johns, Sound Designer 
  • Sarah Wilson ’20, Choreographer 
  • Casey Parker ‘18, Production Stage Manager

The Department of Theatre presents “Big Love,” written by American playwright Charles L. Mee and directed by Eleni Papaleonardos, visiting assistant professor of theatre at Denison.

The play takes place at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5 to 7, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 8 and at 8 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 10 to 12.

Mee’s postmodernist, tragic, comedic adaptation of Aeschylus’s “The Suppliants” has fifty brides fleeing fifty grooms, with the grooms in hot pursuit. The play explores what it means to be a man, a woman, a displaced person, searching for safety, and possibly love, in a world filled with hate, violence and force.

Nikos sits on the edge of the tub that his betrothed Lydia sits in. They both look at each other, tenderly.
Lydia leads a cathartic dance with her sisters Olympia and Thyona, followed by a chorus of fellow brides.
Thyona, Lydia, and Olympia watch as their host’s grandmother, Bella, throws tomatoes on the ground to illustrate her disappointment in some of her sons.
Thyona, Lydia, Olympia, and the chorus of brides face off Constantine, Nikos, Oed, and the chorus of grooms, who have chased after the women to Italy.
Constantine antagonizes Lydia, who holds her sisters Thyona, Olympia, and the rest of the brides behind her.
Wedding guests Leo and Eleanor speak to Thyona, Olympia, and Lydia in anticipation of their forced marriages.
Lydia places a hand on Nikos’ back as he sits, forlorn. Lydia’s sister, Thyona, and wedding guest, Eleanor, watch them.
The brides’ host, Piero, informs them that they must go ahead with their forced marriages, to the dismay of Thyona, Lydia, Olympia, and the chorus of brides.
Thyona smashes her fiancé, Constantine's face into the wedding cake, as several grooms and brides watch in shock.
With a flash of red light, Thyona kicks her fiancé, Constantine, to the ground as the rest of the brides violently attack their grooms.

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