The fall season for University Theatre is underway, and the student-run theater is entering into the month of November with two adaptations of Greek epic poems on their way. The first is Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of “The Odyssey,” opening Nov. 7.
“The Odyssey,” Homer’s epic poem about Odysseus’ journey from the Trojan War back to his home on Ithaca, is a massive story. At 12,000 lines, the story is a daunting task to adapt to any medium other than the long-form poem that many classics and history students have read in classes throughout high school and college.
While daunting to some, Zimmerman, a theater professor who teaches at Northwestern University, adapted the story of Odysseus into a play, trimming the source material down to allow for a concise, yet representative, telling of the Greek soldier’s travels.
This is UT’s second time showing one of Zimmerman’s plays. In the Fall 2006 season, the theater put on “Arabian Nights,” according to Heather Pickering, the director of UT’s production of “The Odyssey.”
Pickering noted that while UT is part of the UW-Madison Department of Theatre and Drama, the productions are open to students regardless of their major.
“There are Ph.D., MFA and undergraduate students in the production [of “The Odyssey”],” Pickering said. “While there are theater majors in the production, there are people pursing pre-med, mass communication, psychology and horticulture as well.”
Pickering has directed once before at UT. Last spring, she debuted with the spring production of David Saar’s “The Yellow Boat.”
One of the biggest drawbacks in producing a show with a massive source material, like “The Odyssey,” is the overall length of the production. Zimmerman’s adaptation clocks in around three hours and twenty minutes, but Pickering noted that the production team spoke with Zimmerman about making cuts to the production.
“She was kind enough to make several suggestions in cutting the production and we cut roughly an hour from the production,” Pickering said. “We have found our own interpretations of several moments in the production.”
“The Odyssey” will open Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Mitchell Theatre and will run until Nov. 16. There will be two shows (a 2 p.m. matinee and a 7:30 p.m. evening show) on Nov. 8 and 15. There will be one 2 p.m. matinee on Nov. 9 and 16.
