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Auditions open for Greek classic

The Center for Creative Works in The Honors College is holding auditions for its debut production of The Children of Herakles Saturday in The Honors Collge Commons.

The play interprets Euripides’ ancient tragedy about the plight of the displaced offspring of demi-god, Herakles for the modern audience.

Rarely performed on stage, the play will be choreographed by Katelyn Halpern, who looks to reinvent the tragedy into a work of motion and intrigue.

‘It’s nothing like trying to create new choreography for something like Chicago, which everyone has seen. I’ve got a real advantage in the freshness of this show, and I’m looking forward to creating an original choreographic score,’ Halpern said.

Seventeen available positions’ are open to all students and faculty who wish to audition. Those with a background in dance are encouraged to try out, as the performance will be choreographed-dance intensive.

‘I’ll be creating contemporary movement, so that the show will look like a hybrid between a play and a dance concert,’ Halpern said.

Sharing casting duties with Halpern will be Artist in Residence at The Honors College, John Harvey, who along with associate professor of modern and classical languages Richard Armstrong, translated the version of the text that Halpern will direct.

Harvey is a well-known decorated poet and playwright in Houston and co-founder of Mildred’s Umbrella, an experimental theater company known for its ability to shock an audience and stretch a dollar.

In composing the new translation of The Children of Herakles, Harvey said he and Armstrong went to lengths to ensure they did not dilute the story.

‘Our translations embrace the strengths of poetry in the English language while relying upon the nuances of the original Greek and the grounding pulse of choral movement,’ Harvey said.

Although the story originated in ancient Greece, the characters and conflicts are relevant to modern society.

‘The words ‘home,’ ‘refugee’ and ‘war’ resound through our translation. The Children of Herakles addresses a continuing problem for civilizations – how to address the tensions between creation and destruction,’ Harvey said.

Interested students are also encouraged to bring a r’eacute;sum’eacute;, a head shot and be prepared to read form a short monologue of any genre and an a cappella song.

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