The Bakersfield College theater department faculty performed a dramatic reading of Greek tragedian Sophocles’ “Antigone” for a small audience collected in the Levan Center on April 13 at 7 p.m.
The center’s director, Jack Hernandez, organized the event after the very same man whose donations are responsible for the recent renovations of the building, Dr. Norman Levan, suggested it to him.
The reading, according to Hernandez, is the first of what will hopefully be at least a yearly tradition at the Levan Center.
The play was chosen for its moral and political importance today, dealing with issues such as martial law, religious doctrine over state law and gender roles.
Before the reading began, Hernandez asked the audience to pay special attention to the philosophical feelings of the main characters, Antigone and Creon, which each would express “through their humanity.”
Hernandez asked Randy Messick, Kimberly Chin, Jennifer Sampson, and Bob Kempf, all theater faculty, to perform the reading.
Each read from his or her own copy of the play.
After the reading, which took about one hour, Hernandez spoke about the implications of the play in today’s world.
“Antigone” is a Greek tragedy; these plays meet the requirement of having a male character meet a tragic end due to his own shortcomings.
In this play, the man at fault is Creon, whose own pride caused him to betray the gods and meet a tragic end.
“The Greeks felt that people needed to know their place,” Hernandez said.
Creon did not know his and was therefore a victim of his own devices.
At the same time, it is also a story of a young woman standing up to the conventions of society – ancient Thebes, like Greece as a whole, was a highly male dominated society – and rejecting the superiority of state law over her own morality.
“He’s driven by pride,” said Hernandez, “and she’s driven by rashness.”
Thus was the thrust of the discussion following the play. Some members of the audience discussed their sympathies for either Creon or Antigone.
Others compared the play to current issues.
One man in the audience suggested that they record their next reading and give it to schools in the area to use in the classroom, which the group agreed to.
One woman noted that, despite being thousands of years old, the play was still relevant to society.
She added that she felt that “Antigone” has a lesson that students should learn.