HART's 'An Iliad' Proves Captivating and Challenging Perceptions of War - TribPapers
Arts

HART’s ‘An Iliad’ Proves Captivating and Challenging Perceptions of War

Quinn Terry as The Poet. Photo by John Highsmith.

Asheville – To the rest of the world, Western North Carolina has become known as a tourist destination, with the main attractions being our mountains, our beer, and our food.

Most recently, we have become synonymous with the destructive forces of Hurricane Helene in September 2024.

However, if you live here and spend any time in our eclectic, forceful, truth-seeking arts community, you are likely aware of the unwavering strength and importance of our live theatrical performances.

The Muses. Photo by John Highsmith.
The Muses. Photo by John Highsmith.

Always ready to address our real-world struggles with reimagined and profoundly relevant plays, our theater companies, directors, actors, and crew push boundaries and illuminate perspectives that are often lost in traditional stagings.

Haywood Arts Regional Theatre in Waynesville is doing just that with their production of An Iliad, directed by the ever-inventive Dakota Mann.

This 2012 play, written by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare, is a modern retelling of Homer’s Iliad. While the original epic poem was written 2,800 years ago, it remains immensely relevant today.

The plot is one we all believe we know: the unfolding of the Trojan War. But do we truly understand it?

History is written by the winners. It glorifies their accomplishments, alters anything they wish to forget, and reduces their enemies to a one-dimensional group, characterized only by their most negative traits, whether real or imagined.

While one way to illustrate the politics and violence of this infamous conflict could be 90 minutes of fight scenes interspersed with monologues, An Iliad takes a more unique approach. One poet narrates the entire story, often breaking in with examples and illustrations to immerse the audience in what it was like to be in Ancient Greece at that time.

Quinn Terry, as the overwhelmed and always mesmerizing character of The Poet, draws us into that world with their quiet charisma and enigmatic portrayal of a person desperate to teach us. If we learn the true and complete history, perhaps we won’t be destined to repeat it.

Although all lines of the 85-minute play are spoken by Terry, much of it is acted out by The Poet’s Muses.

Aaron Ybarra, Naimah Coleman, Gina Purri, James McColl, Jered Shults, and Michelle Troszak enact the action (as narrated by Terry’s The Poet), each infusing physical emotion into a variety of characters from the original epic poem.

The story is not the one-sided history we learned in school, which primarily focuses on the iconic Trojan Horse.

Instead, we encounter the humanity of each individual involved—mothers, fathers, friends, and lovers—who possess hopes and fears and are neither entirely good nor entirely bad.

We are presented with the full story, connecting it to our own lives and times. This draws the audience in not only through the theater-in-the-round presentation but also through The Poet’s breaking of the fourth wall.

It was so compelling and intimate that at one point I audibly responded to something Quinn Terry said in one of their monologues. Thankfully, this is a show where a vocal audience is absolutely encouraged.

Just that setup would make this a moving piece of theater. What elevates it into the overwhelming, immersive experience I had was the soundscape created by Dakota Mann and Music Director Aaron Ybarra.

An indescribable atmospheric quality was added to many scenes—some solely built by Ybarra’s often guitar-playing Muse, percussion, and vocal sounds. Others were layered with Abby Auman’s inventive lighting design or consisted solely of vocal or physical choreographed movements by the cast. Regardless of the approach, those moments were imbued with a visceral aesthetic that drove every tragic moment deep into our consciousness.

Overall, this was one of those plays that I hope sells out every performance. It offers the audience a new perspective on war, the harsh and dangerous divisions in our society, and the perils of viewing our opponents as less than human.

An Iliad has performances on January 24th, 25th, and 31st and February 1st at 7:30 PM, as well as January 26th and February 2nd at 2 PM.

https://harttheatre.org/an-iliad/