35. Tiger at the Gates

TONIGHT is the opening night for the Yale Dramat play we've been relentlessly preparing for the past month, "Tiger at the Gates" !!!!! The play is adapted from french playwright Jean Giradoux's "La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu" or "The Trojan War Will Not Take Place." Here is a brief description of the play from the Dramat website:

Cassandra is a cranky cynic. Paris, a spoiled prince. Helen is a dumb blonde, and, according to Queen Hecuba, "they don't last very long." Jean Giraudoux called "Tiger at the Gates," his witty 1935 play about this dysfunctional but lovable Trojan family, a "farce." And indeed at first it seems a far cry from the somber tale on which it is based, Homer's Iliad. But lurking behind this timeless play's sarcasm and humor, ready to pounce is a tragic story with an ending we assume is inevitable. But is it? While the poets and politicians push him to "fight for a woman," the heroic Hector begs them--and us--to instead imagine a world where, as the French title "La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu" suggests, the Trojan War will not take place.

I play Polyxene, the nine-year-old daughter of Hecuba and Priam who draws in her coloring book, fiddles with sea glass, and asks a lot of questions. I feel so lucky to be performing at the Yale Repetory Theater where actors like Meryl Streep and Jodie Foster have performed. This past month has been so much fun for me, especially since I haven't been in a theater production since the 6th grade!  Cannot wait to finally see it all come together tonight, wish us luck!