23 Saturday
Gorilla Theatre's performers are waking up early this morning for a Solstice Production of Euripides' classical tragedy The Trojan Women. The play starts at 7:30 a.m.; if audience members can rouse themselves at such an ungodly hour, the performance should prove worthwhile. The Trojan Women was written as something of an antiwar gesture, one that predated the hunger strike, the sit-in and the appropriation of the name "Trojan" for condoms. By turning the tables on the Trojan War to reveal not the triumph of the Greeks but also the wreckage they left behind in Troy, Euripedes asked a warring culture to reexamine its values. Because 7:30 a.m. is awfully early to question one's own values, we won't try to draw too many lofty analogies. The Trojan Women will be performed outdoors in Theis Park at Volker and Oak. For more information, call 816-471-APES.
For those who prefer to sleep in, some interesting work is up at The Late Show, the gallery with a name that people who snored straight through The Trojan Women can appreciate. Artists Eric, Holly and Troy Swangstu are siblings who produce works individually in well-spaced locales across the United States. But they've returned to their old stomping grounds in Kansas City for their first group show. Holly works in fibers, while Troy paints in an abstract expressionist style. Their brother, Eric, who started showing his illustrations and works on canvas at The Late Show ten years ago, brings back a series of self portraits in ink, which he created without lifting the pen from the page, and images of boxers put together in a collage style that -- appropriately -- disjoints and distorts their forms. The gallery, which is in a house at 4222 Charlotte, is open from 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, call 816-531-8044.