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Directing Thesis: Trojan Women


  • Flexible Performance Space (map)

Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program is proud to present The Trojan Women, an adaptation of Euripides’ tragedy, directed by current student Rebecca Miller Kratzer.

In the immediate aftermath of their devastating defeat, the widowed women of Troy shelter in place and await the new world order. This new chamber opera adaptation of Euripides’ tragedy, The Trojan Women, speaks truth about war, power, and displacement across the centuries. It is a collective howl, a meditation on grief, past, present, and future. It is mourning made electric. Miller Kratzer asks us to grapple with the Trojan horses—misogyny, white supremacy, partisanship—we have welcomed blindly into our own lives and allowed to fester for so long.

Running Time

1 hour, no intermission

Featuring

Julia Caldwell, Sophia Castuera, Nate Janis (student), Juliet Morris, Ilene PabonTrysten Reynolds, and Kathleen Shelton.

Orchestra

Music Director & Pianist George Luton
Bandurist Zoya Shepko
Violinist Sana Nagano
Cellist Lydia Paulos

Production Team & Crew

Composer Sarah Taylor Ellis
Librettist Ellen McLaughlin, Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of English, Barnard College
Director Rebecca Miller Kratzer (student)
Music Director/Pianist George Luton
Producers Sean Anthony Chia (student) and Anabel Manuela Romero (student)
Dramaturg Anisa Rose Threlkeld (student)
Production Stage Manager Hadley Armstrong ‘21
Assistant Stage Manager Cal Langston (student)
Production Designer Tyler Herald
Lighting Designer Betsy Chester
Costume Designer Eszter Retfalvi
Projection Designer Andrew Freeburg (student)
Sound Designer Jacob Kyle Robinson (student)
Vocal Coach Mila Henry
Company Manager Yining Cao (student)
Assistant Costume Designer Lukas Wassmann

About the Artist

Rebecca Miller Kratzer (she/her) is a New York-based theatre and opera director and a MFA candidate in the Theatre Directing Concentraion at Columbia University School of the Arts. She tells multifaceted stories by and about women, informed by her connection to the Jewish diaspora, through the fusion of theatre and opera. She also directs new plays, creates dream ballets, and coaches directors.

Rebecca is the Resident Stage Director and Chief Engagement Officer at Helios Opera, and was the 2020-2021 Directing Fellow at Opera Saratoga, where she directed Don Quichotte at Comacho’s Wedding. She formerly served as the Artistic Director of the NEMPAC Opera Project where she directed La Cenerentola, Don Giovanni, and Fidelio, and has worked with Katie Mitchell, Whitney White, Annie-B Parson, The New York Times, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Big Dance Theatre, BAM, Opera Saratoga, Opera del West, The Bushwick Starr, The Tank NYC, The Footlight Club, Bridge Rep, and Hub Theatre. She has held development positions at Trinity Repertory Company, SpeakEasy Stage Company, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Upcoming projects include directing The Drag at Fordham University this November, and working with students at The Longy School of Music in the fall of 2022. 

Rebecca received her BA in Theater Arts from Brandeis University and holds a Graduate Certificate in Arts Administration from Boston University.

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Mark Dion

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Reparative Memory