The University of Hawai'i at M~noa's Department of Theatre and Dance presents "The Cyclops," a crass and playful comedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. The first production of Late Night Theatre's 2004-2005 season, "The Cyclops", features a spirited and brassy translation by Paul Roche and is directed by UHM student Ashley Larson. "The Cyclops" will be performed at the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre on September 18, 24, and 25 at 11 p.m., and Sept. 19 in a "matin-eve" performance at 8 p.m. A post-show discussion with the creative team and cast will follow the Friday, Sept. 24 performance. "The Cyclops" contains adult subject matter and is recommended for mature audiences.

In "The Cyclops," the sacred myths of classical Greece have received an irreverent make-over. Spoofing an episode from Homer's "Odyssey," the play follows the adventures of Odysseus, the brilliant hero of the Trojan War. He finds himself shipwrecked on the island of the Cyclops, a man-eating monster with a single eye. When the Cyclops imprisons him and threatens to eat him alive, Odysseus must figure out how to outsmart his captor and escape the island. A chorus of satyrs, visualized in this production as half-human and half-equine creatures, provide hilarious commentary, bawdy songs and dances.

Unique in the entire canon of western literature, "The Cyclops" is the only complete surviving example of a satyr-play, a comic genre that flourished in ancient Greece. Director Larson notes that "the fact that it’s the only extant full satyr-play leaves much in question as to how it would have originally been produced. That ambiguity opens up an exciting range of possibility, and we are using it!" To create the eclectic, exaggerated world of the play, Larson enlisted the talents of choreographer Annie Lokomaika'i Lipscomb and composer Joshua Greenspoon, and hopes the show is "as much fun to watch as it has been to create and rehearse."

Larson is a senior undergraduate student in theatre at UHM and has recently performed featured roles in Kennedy Theatre's Kabuki "Nozaki Village", Kumu Kahua's "Massie/Kahahawai," and won critical praise for her performance as Don Armado in the Hawai'i Shakespeare Festival's "Love's Labors Lost." Choreographer Lipscomb, an accomplished hula dancer, is an M.A. candidate in dance ethnology at UHM and has performed repeatedly in Kennedy Theatre dance and drama productions in recent years.

Tickets for "The Cyclops" go on sale one hour before show-time each night of the production, at the door of the Earle Ernst Lab Theatre. Ticket prices are $8 general admission, $7 seniors, military, UH faculty/staff, non-UHM students, and $3 UHM students with validated Fall 2004 student ID. Latecomers will not be admitted once the performance has begun. For more information, including disability access, call the Kennedy Theatre Box Office at 956-7655 (voice/text).

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WHAT: "The Cyclops"

TICKET PRICES: $8 regular admission, $7 non-UHM students, seniors, military, UH faculty/staff, $3 UHM students with validated Fall 2004 UHM student ID

TICKET INFO: 956-7655 (voice/text)