Around 400 B.C. in ancient Greece, the playwright Sophocles wrote a trilogy referred to as the Theban Plays. “Antigone” was the first one written and has traveled for over 2,400 years to land in the hands of first time Fresno State play director, Michelle Bellaver.

This play will run from March 28 until April 5 at the Dennis and Cheryl Woods Theater at Fresno State. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. every day except for March 30, when it starts at 2 p.m.

Bellaver has a deep admiration for Greek plays and how they were a reflection on their society, and how people interacted with each other at the time.

One main reason for choosing “Antigone” for her debut was the role of women in the play.

“I really love the idea of exploring what it means to watch a woman act in a way that forces her society, her culture, her community, to look at its treatment of law,” Bellaver said.

The play is a more modern retelling of the legendary tale, but maintains key themes and characters. The story centers around Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus, who was king of Thebes. Oedipus lived a cursed life, fulfilling the prophecy of murdering his father and marrying his mother, and death plagues his family. Antigone’s brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, murdered each other fighting for their city, Thebes.

Eteocles is given a respectful burial while Polynices is left outside the city to rot.

The story follows Antigone as she attempts to disobey the law and give her brother a proper burial.

“She is in so many ways, a rebellious figure,” Bellaver said. “And to watch a woman speak truth to power, I think, is very interesting.”

In order to give the actors enough context to understand their characters, Bellaver collaborated with the Department of Modern and Classical Languages.

She originally met with professors Curtis Easton and Kristi Eastin, who are experts in Greek history and culture. They offered to do a symposium with the cast and some students studying the field as well. The dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, Honora Chapman, joined in on the conversation given her expertise in the subject.

After nearly two hours of questions and history, the actors left feeling well-informed.

“It was perfect for someone who does not understand much Greek history,” said Marazay Ashford, a theater arts major playing Antigone’s sister Ismene. “Having that opinion from people who study it their whole entire lives was extremely helpful.”

Many of the actors gave Bellaver high praise for her directing.

“What she sees in her mind, she knows how to put it onto stage,” Ashford said. “It’s beautiful.”

Others shared how much they trusted Bellaver’s ability to direct the play.

“She definitely knows what she’s doing,” said Daphne Doss, a communication major who recently added a theater arts minor. “The second I walked into the callback room, me and her just matched each other’s energy. You could tell she’s just so educated.”

Doss is playing three characters in the play, one of them being the messenger, who holds a pivotal role in telling the audience important information.

One of her other roles is a part of the chorus. The role requires a lot of rigid military movement, but this has been no issue for Doss.

Doss has a background in dance and is one of the captains for the Fresno State Dance Team. This skillset made the movement of her roles easy since she just thinks of it as choreography.

A key part of the play to Doss, similarly to Bellaver, is the concept of women empowerment.

She mentioned how Bellaver had specifically highlighted this theme, with slight alterations to the chorus to make women even more of a point of emphasis.

Bellaver explained the difficulty of balancing the concepts and themes of the play without being too on the nose.

“We don’t want to hit the audience over the head with a hammer with ideas or themes or issues, but we want to bring them along so that the audience feels like they are a part of the story,” Bellaver said.

The concept of family relationships, law of power, human nature and law of man are all pivotal to the story; more specifically, how human nature and man go against the law and state of power.

“Just because something is law, doesn’t mean it is just,” Bellaver said.

While her cast gave her high praise, Bellaver returned the comments by thanking her amazing cast and crew.

She emphasized their talent, creativity and their inquisitive nature. Bellaver also shouted out the designers and how high level their skills were.

“Antigone” is for mature audiences, but Bellaver assures that the violence is necessary for the story to develop and isn’t senseless.

Tickets cost $20 for general admission, $18 for faculty, staff, alumni, seniors and military and $10 for students. They can be bought online or at the door.