You reached this page through the archive. Click here to return to the archive.

Note: This article is over a year old and information contained in it may no longer be accurate. Please use the contact information in the lower-left corner to verify any information in this article.

St. Olaf to present Latin play Mostellaria

By Margaret Wade '08
February 29, 2008

The Latin play that St. Olaf College will present this year has a plot full of elements many fun-loving young people can relate to: a house party, a frivolous use of money and a little fibbing to a parent.

ClassicsPlay
Students perform in a previous play put on by the St. Olaf College Classics Department.
The performance is part of a tradition in which once every two years, students in the classics department at St. Olaf College produce a Roman comedie written in Latin by Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254-184 B.C.). This year, they will stage Plautus' Mostellaria, which means "The Haunted House." The performances will take place March 7-8 at 8 p.m. in Room 233 of the Christiansen Hall of Music. They are free and open to the public.

Audience members do not need to understand Latin for this hilarious performance. In a mixture of Latin and English, the 70-minute show is fast-paced and packed with jokes and musical numbers. Professor of Classics and Department Chair Anne Groton explains that "even though the characters speak to each other in Latin, they are meant to be Greeks, not Romans."

The plot of Mostellaria includes a house party, money lending and a father-son relationship. "The play is set in Athens and concerns a son, Philolaches, who has been living a wild lifestyle and squandering his father's money on parties while the rest of the family is away on vacation in Egypt," Groton says. "When the family returns, the crafty slave Tranio invents one tale after another to prevent Philolaches' father from finding out the truth about what has been going on. As always in Plautus, there is a happy ending."

Groton has directed the Latin play since her first year at St. Olaf in 1981. She exudes enthusiasm for the endeavor, inspiring students to give ancient drama a try with her expertise and positive energy.

The cast collaborates to create the script in a unique process where each cast member individually translates his or her part from Latin. The result is a hilarious conglomeration that celebrates ancient theater and the joy of creating with a community of learners. This low-budget and rather spontaneous production makes use of whatever talents and props are available. For backdrops, they use painted bed sheets attached to portable screens.

Each performance includes six songs, based either on Plautus' lyrical passages or on dialogue passages converted to songs. Most of the actors have singing parts, accompanied by Groton on the piano and Danielle J. Lovaas '10 on the oboe. "To increase the profundity of the play, we have added a chorus of singing bats!" Groton says.

Traditionally, the cast takes the show on tour to schools in southeastern Minnesota. This year, they will perform at Liberty Classical Academy in Maplewood, the College of St. Catherine, the University of Minnesota, Gustavus Adolphus College, Rochester Mayo High School and Edina High School.

For more information contact Groton at groton@stolaf.edu.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.