24 MAR 02: ZIGGURAT THEATRE

FROM THE

ZIGGURAT WEBSITE:

(The ziggurat is the Babylonian
step pyramid which connects the earth with heaven.)

“Ziggurat Theatre creates
performances inspired by world myths. We celebrate our collective past
through a distinctive kind of theater that explores world culture and ritual
as a dramatic form.  It is a central mission of the theatre to offer
an experience that can unite the diverse cultures of our community. We
do so by sharing and illuminating themes from classical and world mythology,
which transcend cultural boundaries and speak to our common human experience
instinctively, deeply and powerfully.”

Aquitania:
Gascon Center Theater – May & June, 2001

“Aquitania is based on characters
from the Legends of Charlemagne, a canon of stories about the French king
and his knights, narratively and thematically similar to the Arthurian
legends. For Aquitania we took from the stories four of the principle characters
ˆ the virtuous Charlemagne, Roland and Fleurdelis, and the evil Gano; and
one legend – that of an enchanted ring, and devised a story for them all.
However, we created a story, which explores the idea of time.  In
Aquitania a 10-year-old girl plays a board game whose pieces are the characters
of the mythical Charlemagne legends.  At the same time (or perhaps
not at the same time), Marguerite, a librarian has been summoned to a mythical
kingdom in 1930s Europe to solve a military crisis. The characters she
meets are the same characters from the board game, even though it is the
1930s. That is, they have the same names and embody the same ideals as
their Carolingian counterparts. We come to discover that Marguerite is
enacting with her new friends, the same plot that the little girl is working
out on her board game. We also ultimately learn that the little girl is
Marguerite as a child. Whether the little girl is imagining herself in
an adult conflict as she plays the game, or whether the entire affair is
a dream of the adult Marguerite, is not entirely clear. But the audience
sets off on a strange and wonderful journey much like Alice in Wonderland
or Dorothy in Oz, where the protagonist must embrace a new kind of logic.
And oh yes, I forgot to mention: It‚s a comedy. – Stephen Legawiec”