The UMN/Guthrie BFA Program 3rd Year Company of 2021 Presents an Epic Greek Trilogy

Three years ago, Markell Kiefer first started directing the Greek project for the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater BFA program with 'Agamemnon'. She returned the following two years to direct 'The Eumenides' and 'Electra'. Today, Kiefer brings the Aeschylus/Sophocles trilogy together in 'The Oresteia, House of Atreus', presented by the UMN/Guthrie BFA 3rd Year Company of 2021.

About the Play

'The Oresteia' begins with King Agamemnon’s return home after being away at war for 10 years. His wife Clytemnestra has waited for him, ready to avenge the death of her daughter, Iphigenia, whom Agamemnon sacrificed to gain safe passage to Troy and back. Meanwhile, Clytemnestra’s son Orestes was stolen and raised in exile. When he returns to Argos ten years later, he is ready to avenge his father’s death and murder his mother. The revenge plots culminate in the first-ever democratic trial established by the Goddess Athena to try the death of Clytemnestra by Orestes’ hand. Filled with revenge, justice, and blood, The Oresteia, House of Atreus is nothing short of an epic story. 

'The Oresteia' by the numbers: 
19 cast members
10 years between each act
8 horrifying goddesses of the underworld
6 instruments
4 murders
3 plays 
2 Gods
1 big ‘ol red tapestry

About the Process

Explorations of choral, vocal, and movement work culminate in a devised process, making the Greek project unlike any other work students experience in the UMN/Guthrie BFA program. Many productions, once cast, dive straight into blocking and staging. Director Markell Kiefer, however, begins with a series of read-throughs, subsequently encouraging cast members to split up and create various physical and vocal moments. A week later, groups are brought back together to teach one another what they have created. This is the first step to crafting the show. This process, guided by Kiefer, is one that she has created and practiced over the past few years. 

Kiefer says, “It really feels like a culminating moment for the work that I’ve done in the [BFA] program, specifically with the Greek project, in the last three years.” She recalled her journey with the 3rd year company of 2021, “I first really started working regularly in the BFA program with this specific company, teaching movement, when they were freshmen. So, it’s really fun to come back to a point of working and collaborating with them on something much more intense and making use of all of the work that we did that first year.” 

Because the BFA 3rd year company of 2021 has worked so intimately with Kiefer these past three years, they were the perfect candidate to take on this epic trilogy. 

Kiefer wrapped up by saying, “It feels like a lot of wonderfully creative things and people coming together to create this piece. It’s really exciting. And overwhelming. And a lot of work. But it’s going to be AWESOME.”