The Poor-John Players, the alter ego of the Chapel Hill High School Theater Department, presented their take on Sophocles’s classic Greek tragedy Oedipus the King November 17-19 in Hanes Theater.
While most students are familiar with Hanes Theatre, the Poor-John Players are a group largely unknown to students. The group consists of theater students portraying struggling underfunded actors who present their take on classic plays. Each student in the group has a different British identity that they use to inspire their acting.
The Chapel Hill Theater Department created The Poor-John Players in 2010 when drama students performed a Wild West version of Romeo and Juliet.
“Since Romeo and Juliet has obvious comedic elements, our company thought it would be fun to stage the entire play as a farce where everything went wrong,” theater director Thomas Drago said. “The phrase ‘poor-john’ comes from the opening scene of Romeo and Juliet,” said theater director Thomas Drago.
The conceit of the theater department’s version of Oedipus the King is that the Poor-John Players are staging their version of Sophocles’s play in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on the night of the meltdown of the fourth reactor. The show featured many other modern twists throughout the performance: there were classic 80s music hits, breakouts into dance, and even appearances from famous fictional characters like Rocky Balboa and Princess Leia.
Students said they had fun working on the show, but the play-within-in-the-play also created some challenges. Senior Amelia Brinson played a Messenger from Corinth, as well as her Poor-John alter ego Felicity Fitzsimmons.
“It was definitely a challenge. For everything to go wrong, everything has to go right. The concept of doing a show within a show was also difficult, as each person is playing two characters,” Brinson said.
Senior Jordan Salinas was assistant stage manager for Oedipus the King and said that the technical aspect of the show was made more difficult by the Poor-John Players.
“It made our jobs a lot more elaborate,” Salinas said. “There were a lot of moving pieces. We had to make sure [the actors] were in the right place backstage to make it seem like on stage they were in the wrong place.”
Sophocles’s tragedy follows the story of Oedipus after he becomes king of Thebes. Oedipus, played by junior Armand Nardi, sets out to find the murderer of former king Laius. His search for the killer turns into a quest for his true identity and eventually leads to his tragic downfall.
Freshman Calla Horvath played a member of the Greek Chorus as her alter ego Winifred Watkins. She enjoyed seeing everybody’s characters develop throughout the course of the rehearsals.
“I found the play really fun, and I especially enjoyed how collaborative the process was,” Horvath said. “I loved getting to work together with the other performers in the dances, as well as the dance teacher Miss Brown, who is amazing, and I just loved hanging out with everyone and creating a really unique play.”
Students in Kimberly Jones’s and Bradley Mitchell’s English 10 classes, who had studied the play, were able to see the show during the school day in the first Chapel Hill High School matinee shown to students in ten years.
“I thought the play was fun and interesting to watch. It told the story well,” sophomore Mira Kumar said.
Sophomore Jaden Harley said he appreciated the modern twist the theater department put on the play.
“I liked that they involved Star Wars in the play. It was fun to see lots of humor in the classic play,” Harley said.
Mitchell recently finished teaching the play to his English 10 classes.
“I was really glad they got to see it. I thought it was a good opportunity to see a different interpretation of the play,” Mitchell said.
Jones recently finished teaching Oedipus the King to her English 10 classes, as well as another Oedipus play, Antigone. She was glad that her students were able to see the talents and efforts of their peers in the drama department.
“It was absolutely a positive experience. I think it is always beneficial for students to see literature translated into different formats,” Jones said.
Drago said Oedipus the King was one of the most challenging shows of his career to produce, but it was wonderful to see the play come to life.
“The amount of work we all put into creating our vision has been exhausting. I’m so proud of all the effort and commitment on the part of the drama students and our amazing arts staff,” Drago said.
Oedipus the King ran for an hour and 20 minutes with a brief intermission. Around 40 students were involved in the production, along with other arts staff members.
