
DATE: Friday, March 21, 1997                TAG: 9703190185

SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER      PAGE: 12   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

OSCAR SMITH GOES HEAVY ON DRAMA

Oscar Smith High School actors will present a drama next week that is more than 2,000 years old - and yet it is as modern as today's news and music.

The school will present the play featuring Euripides' famous scorned woman, ``Medea,'' beginning Thursday under the direction of drama teacher Carey Nothnagel.

``I know that next week there's quite a few Passion plays being presented around the city and the region, but for those looking for even heavier drama may want to include our production of `Medea' in with the other seasonal plays,'' Nothnagel said. ``I've even included on our posters the saying about `hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' With Medea and the course of action she's forced to take, that certainly rings true.''

The production will be based on Robinson Jeffers' modern adaption of the Greek tragedy, Nothnagel said.

``I've always loved `Medea' and respected her character and the power of this woman,'' he explained. ``If you watch today's news with attacks on women, spousal abuse, date rape and other crimes and violence committed against women, you can see that Medea was a woman who didn't take that kind of treatment sitting down. She acts very violently in the play, but she's forced into this intense action. And then the play deals with racism, since she was treated as a sort of savage since

she came from a different ethnic culture.''

Nothnagel said that as a director it will be up to him to get his able cast of 10 students to handle the intensity of the play's action and subject matter.

``I've always held back on producing this play,'' he said. ``It's very heavy, particularly the chorus, who, in repeating the ideas of the drama, have to wail and moan and cry openly on stage.

``But now I have a cast that's mature enough to handle it. They are really taken to it and have a real grasp on the drama of the whole thing.''

Featured in the cast are Jatawny Muckelvene, Steven Jinright, Tiara Smith, Jeremiah Johnson, Tim Gunter, Alicia Wilson, Shelley Potter, Heidi Burns, Jennifer Miller and Amanda Seutz.

And to keep the play even more intense and modern, Nothnagel said he'll use modern rock songs to enhance its intensity and drama, a theatrical device used by scores of current popular films.

``The audience will be surrounded in sound,'' he said. ``You'll be able to see the betrayal and violence reflected in the songs by Alanis Morrisette, Nine Inch Nails, Jewel, Gravity Kills and Enigma. It will add a contemporary flavor. The music will be a great way to bring out the emotion and drama of the work.''

Nothnagel said he's excited about presenting this intense, mature drama. But he cautions that parents may want to think before bringing along children 10 or younger.

``I'm not saying that children are not allowed, but the play is very intense and deals with severe subjects that young children may not be able to handle,'' he explained. ``But older youngsters, students and adults will find this very compelling. It will not be an evening of light drama, that's for sure.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

WANT TO GO?

What: ``Medea,'' a Greek tragedy by Euripides, based on Robinson

Jeffers' modern adaption.

Who: Presented by the Oscar Smith Drama Department under the

direction of Carey Nothnagel.

Where: The Oscar Smith High School Little Theatre, off Great

Bridge Boulevard.

When: 8 p.m., Thursday and March 28-29.

Tickets: $4 adults and $2 for students, available at the box

office on the day of the show.