Lucas Thanos and The Hellenic Library presented Aeschylus’ Oresteia, an ancient Greek trilogy, this past October, at The William & Jane Bristol Civic Auditorium. The play was translated and directed by Lucas Thanos and is an adaptation of the original trilogy by Aeschylus, first produced in 458 B.C. The show was sold out and a huge success. The audience expressed their enthusiasm with a standing ovation.
Director Lucas Thanos, is a composer, explorer of Contemporary Choreography and a persistent scholar of Ancient Greek Tragedy. He studied Theatre, Music, Dance and Philosophy in Athens, Rome and New York. He researched for many years the dance philosophy of Isadora Duncan, serving as adviser of her family as well as reviver and Artistic director of the "Isadora Duncan Center for the Studies of Dance".
Thanos has dedicated the last few years to the study of Aeschylus’ rhythmic physical movement, the Ancient tragic word, and the root of the collective experience. He seems to be drawn to symbolist hypothesis, to psychoanalytic interpretation, to the anthropological dimension of these Ancient texts. Having considerable experience in dance and theatre, he relied on his musical and dance praxis in his quest to decipher and analyze in depth the musicality and the internal rhythm of the dramatic poetry of Aeschylus.
By translating all of the Aeschylus' known plays to the contemporary Greek and English language, his focal point is to bring out the rhythm and the musicality of the great dramatist word.
Aeschylu's Oresteia by Lucas Thanos will continue to tour around the nation.
The stars gave a mesmerizing performance with Michael Monks as Agamemnon and Apollo, Frantz Turner as the Adviser, Liana Thanou as Clytemnestra and Athena, Danay Garcia as Electra, Alexander Popovic as Orestes, Angelina Prendergast as Cassandra, Carolyn Lawson as Nurse Cilissa, Robert Jayne as Aegisthus, and Shure Batbaatar as Daughter of Darkness. The Chorus and Percussionists were a vivacious addition infusing rhythm and dance into the play. On percussion was Tom Kurai and Shih-wei Willie Wu. The Chorus members included LA actors; Lizelle Gutierrez, Cory Storey, Ben Griesse, Korrina Kaplanis, Asimina Antoniou, Caitlin Mckenney, and Katerina Gagkas. The dancers consisted of Alexie Geronimo, Naomi Pessy, Kelly Browning, Vince Trupsin, Matthew Krumpe, Melvin Ramsey, Megan Kenson,Valentino Vladamirov, Michelle Costello, Emily Andrews.
