Athena will leave you Battling Tears at Theatre Nova
By: Kori Fay for findmitheatre
photos by Sean Carter Photography
GIRL! IT'S SO CONFUSING SOMETIMES TO BE A GIRL!!!! I believe this to be true, having been a teenage girl once myself (gasp!). And it only gets more confusing when you add in teenage girl friendships!...and with that comes the ever-evolving, swinging door of feelings and unclear boundary lines and hormones and adrenaline. The cherry on top? These girls can swing a sword! ("It's hardly a sword!") Okay, it's a foil, but it gets the same reaction from an audience...
I had the absolute pleasure and honor to be apart of an oversold house this weekend for the matinee performance of Athena by Gracie Gardner, directed by Shelby Seeley at Theatre Nova in downtown Ann Arbor. (Nobody worry, they got everyone in!). I was absolutely blown away at every turn during my time in the bleachers watching young women train for the Junior Olympics. Not only are you treated to many a fight choreographed by Joe Wright, but you also get a peek into what building a friendship is like when you're a 17 year old girl.
Director Shelby Seeley describes the types of plays she directs as "ferally feminine" and "violently tender", and she hits the nail on the head with this play. Seeley does a fantastic job keeping the bleeding heart pumping blood through the veins of Athena; she very clearly has guided her actors to focus on the love of the situation at hand, and this is apparent from the first meeting of these characters, to the final tears shed together. Every choice that was made in every beat change felt so real and organic to the character and the story as a whole and honestly, I didn't want the play to end. I am a huge fan of Seeley's work and know her to be an open, calm presence in the room that allows for creativity and exploration to find different levels of love and enriching flavors in every scene. Athena is no different!
The three people in this play are all BADASS... I literally do not have a better word right now, but I will try. Jen Pan who plays Athena, hooked us all in from their first battle cry. The people in the audience, myself included, cheered for her as she unabashedly screamed to the heavens after (SPOILER) winning a point. I was so mesmerized by both Pan and Brittany Batell's performance. Batell played the foil (pun intended) to Pan's character (Mary Wallace) and was a little more anxious and careful than Athena's self-assuredness. Batell and Pan both made me believe we were all 17 again, handling the strange--yet true to character--dialogue and back and forth with ease and it made me feel like I was watching a story I had no business knowing about--that's how real it felt. There is so much love between these two characters, and I am not in the business of fully spoiling anything, but you will root for them both the whole time. They are both masterclasses in acting. Amanda Buchalter comes in at the very end as the ever-poised Jamie, surprising us with some super sick choreo once again, and then helps seal the deal of the play.
As I was leaving, I heard people complimenting the lights and sound done by Jade Guerriero and Kennikki Jones-Jones respectively. Never have we ever seen something have to be so in sync and set the mood and tone for the fights--brava! As mentioned above, the fights were taught by Joe Wright and executed beautifully and thoughtfully by Pan, Batell, and Buchalter. I would go see it again for the fighting alone and stay for the beautiful storytelling. I didn't want it to end, and I sat there are cried for a bit before getting up. What a beautiful story about platonic love, friendship, and what it means to risk it all for someone you care about. A lot of teenage friendships and female friendships are like this and I think deserve to be seen more onstage and not be written off as crazy or dramatic. We need to see more women's stories in theatre. Where is the love? It's here. It's right here. And there's so much to give.
Go and do yourself a favor and see Athena by Gracie Gardner now through August 9th at Theatre Nova.
https://www.theatrenova.org/current-show
Comments
Post a Comment