Santa Fe College Fine Arts will soon bring ancient Greece to Gainesville.
The Fine Arts program will perform "Oedipus at Ichetuckneea," an adaptation of Sophocles’ ancient Greek play "Oedipus the King," from Oct. 15 to 17 at the Santa Fe Fine Arts Hall. Prices for the play range from $9 to $15, with Santa Fe students, faculty and staff attending for free with a college ID.
The play is written by Santa Fe theatre professor Gregg Jones and English professor Stephen Robitaille and will be the pair’s last performance before their retirement in the Spring.
"I want to provide a meaningful and lasting learning experience for students involved," Jones said."The family that creates when making this play is what I really enjoy most."
The original play tells a story of a king who tries to escape his fate and ignores a plague while doing so. "Oedipus at Ichetuckneea" is about a ruler who ignores the signs Mother Nature gives about the contamination of a sacred spring, Robitaille said. The idea of re-telling "Oedipus the King" came to Robitaille last summer when he was thinking of the various environmental issues Florida faces, he said.
"It’s an adaptation that conveys the story into some future dystopic Florida," Robitaille said.
The major plot of "Oedipus the King" will remain the same, Jones said, with the language and setting serving as the biggest changes.
"It is entertaining," he said. "It is stretching the boundaries to make a different kind of theatrical experience for the audience."
There are more than 50 students involved in the production of this play, Jones said.
"I’m just totally in awe in how they can bring together costuming, lighting, sound, acting – all of these elements in six weeks or less," Robitaille said.
Tyler Collins, a Santa Fe theater freshman, said due to the twist in plot he is more inclined to see the play.
"I’m pretty sure it’ll be great," the 29-year-old said.
