Jackson thespians offer triple-threat theater at this year's DramaFest

For its spring production this year, the Jackson High School Thespians will give patrons a three-part theater experience with an interesting mix of girl-power readers' theater, a social-awareness play and a Greek tragedy.

The light-hearted, somewhat comedy and somewhat social statement "The Bad Girl's Guide to Getting What You Want" opens the theater triple threat -- a message about female empowerment sandwiched between the indie-girl spirit of the Spice Girls' first hit, "Wannabe."

During "Bad Girl's Guide" a troupe of 18 girls parades around stage delivering a message telling girls to be fiercely independent. A simple black set and tricolor costuming of black, pink and white helps keep words and acting the main focus of the readers theater.

The roughly 30-minute piece starts as a tirade against social expectations for women -- narrow definitions of beauty, pressure to marry and be a housewife, etc. Those who defy the expectations are the "bad girls."

"Bad Girl's Guide" can be preachy, but isn't all serious. Humor is used to a great extent, like when the bad girls are talking about their bad acts and one says, "Who says urinals are only for men?"

Old-timers may not get it all -- this readers' theater was clearly written for the young -- and parents may dislike its take on teenage rebellion, but the 18 starlets of "Bad Girl's Guide" are full of personality.

But the humor of the "Bad Girl's Guide" is a far cry from what comes afterward in the anti-violence story "Bang Bang You're Dead" and the famous Greek tragedy by Sophocles, "Antigone."

The thespians didn't perform "Bang Bang You're Dead" at Thursday's sneak preview.

After the bright smiles of 18 bad girls fade the audience is forced to grapple with the darkness of human nature in a visually modernized take on "Antigone" that won first place in a speech and debate competition.

Where the "Bad Girl's Guide" encourages utmost confidence, "Antigone" shows just how badly a surplus of confidence can go wrong when King Creon is punished by the gods for his hubris.

This "Antigone" features actors in modern clothing on a set made with modern bricks, but the play stays true to its Greek roots.

The tyrannical Creon is played by Steve Nolkemper, dressed all in black with a black leather overcoat, looking like an evil dictator from a modern totalitarian nightmare. His storm troopers wear black with armbands, calling up images of Nazis.

Nolkemper gives a strong, emotional performance as Creon, towering over all on stage and bursting into fits of self-righteous rage. Before the end he's quickly reduced to a cowering, regretful shell of his former power when his family meets its demise.

Caitlin Burress plays the defiant Antigone, whose actions set in motion the events that will destroy Creon's house.

The message "Antigone" conveys is one that anyone can identify with -- the folly of stubbornness and defiance in the face of change.

Quite a crash after the raucous "Bad Girl's Guide," and a good ending to a night of theater.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182