THE ARCHER FROM MALIS Opens This Weekend at the Lounge

Since co-founding Griot Theatre in 2011, Artistic Director Malik B. El-Amin has pushed the company's mission, finding not just roles but entire productions that could feature female artists, artists of color and artists with physical disabilities and using what some would call creative casting as an opportunity to redefine the classics and local theatre in general.

As such, he is proud to announce the company's next production, The Archer From Malis, playing at the Lounge Theatre from April 29-May 22.

In this bold reimagining of Sophocles' Philoctetes, set in a Hunger Games-inspired dystopia and employing non-traditional casting, Odysseus orders young Neoptolemus, daughter of Achilles, to trick Philoctetes into joining the Greeks to assure their victory of the Trojan War. Philoctetes was entrusted with Hercules' bow upon the demi-god's death. The Greeks, who abandoned the snake-bitten Philoctetes on the island of Lemnos ten years earlier, return, now in need of him and the divine bow to win the Trojan War. The play explores questions of loss, betrayal, loyalty and whether the ends always justify the means.

"The idea that the elite prosper at the expense of the masses is as old as theatre, itself," said El-Amin, who is also directing the production. "It was a theme explored in Greek mythology, with the Gods wreaking havoc on the lives of ordinary people. The Hunger Games books and films explored that very theme pitting the common people of the Districts against the wealthy citizens of the Capitol. And in our current election cycle, populist candidates are winning the hearts and passions of voters from both political parties. This play forces us to explore the intersection between ancient mythologies, modern fantasy and our current political environment."

El-Amin said audiences can expect some exciting surprises in their interpretation, including the expanded use of the gods throughout the show and a design and even tweaks to the script that reflect the dystopian environment they're looking to create. Plus, the nature of the work also gave El-Amin and Griot Theatre a unique opportunity to make an even greater statement with their casting.

"The moral center of the play is Neoptolemus, child of Achilles," El-Amin said. "In our production, not only is Neoptolemus a woman rather than a man, but the actress also uses a wheelchair. Audiences will witness how casting skilled artists with disabilities broadens, rather than shrinks the creative possibilities of a given play."

That's what has driven El-Amin ever since the company's first production.

"We believe that theatre performs two functions: it reminds us who we've been and it teaches us who we have the potential to become," he said. "When our stories lack diversity, our past remains deficient and our future less bright. Griot Theatre exists to give voice to these untold stories, by creating a forum for artists from underrepresented groups to interpret theatre in new ways."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

http://griottheatre.org/happeningnow.html