Synetic breathes life into ‘Lysistrata’
By KIRILL SOBIN
Staff Writer
KVDIO2@PSU.EDU
My wife and I take frequent
trips to Washington DC and one
of our destinations is the Synetic
Theater. It is a relatively new
theater but in seven short years
it has been able to generate an
army of loyal patrons. Paata and
Irina Tsikurishvili, a husband and
wife team, have built a company
that is unlike any other with their
reinventions of classic works
with a ferocious, beautiful and
utterly distinct style.
Since my first visit over 5 years
ago I have made a point of not
missing out on new Synetic’s
productions. I have also had the
opportunity to get to know Irina
and Paata on a personal basis;
witnessing what gifted producers
Efron turns ‘l7 Again’ into No. 1 hit
By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer
Zac Efron has taken the box
office crown from his Disney
teammate Miley Cyrus.
Efron’s comedy “17 Again,”
in which he plays the youthful
version of a middle-aged man
magically transformed to high
school age, debuted as the top
weekend movie with $24.1
million, according to studio
estimates Sunday.
The No. 1 opening for the
Warner Bros, movie solidifies the
big-screen potential for Efron,
who rose to fame with Disney’s
“High School Musical” series.
“There’s no question that Zac’s
a star,” said Dan Fellman, head
of distribution for Warner Bros.
“He’s such a hard-working,
talented individual. He certainly
has given his all to promote this
movie.”
Universal had the No. 2 movie
with Russell Crowe and Ben
Affleck’s Washington thriller
“State of Play,” which pulled
in $14.1 million. Crowe plays a
reporter investigating a series of
deaths linked to an old college
friend (Affleck) who’s now a
rising star in Congress.
Cyrus’ “Hannah Montana: The
Movie” slipped from first place
to fourth with $12.7 million.
That lifted the domestic total
and collaborators they are.
Synetic’s latest collaboration
with Georgetown University is
“Lysistrata”.
“It is every Artistic Director’s
dream to see his theater
company grow and mature” said
Paata Tsikurishvili, “It warms
my heart to introduce you to
Lysistrata, one piece in what we
hope will become a long line of
collaborations between Synetic
and new spaces, artists, and
friends”.
First performed in Athens in
411 BC, “Lysistrata” is one of
few surviving plays written by
Aristophanes. The play remains
an essential and relevant piece
of theater because of the story
of men and women struggling
for freedom, love, and power.
Aristophanes reminds us that
war is as essential and instinctual
as sex is for human existence.
for Cyrus’ movie spinoff of her
Disney Channel show to $56.1
million after 10 days in theaters.
“Hannah Montana” finished just
behind Dream Works Animation’s
“Monsters vs. Aliens,” which
took in $12.9 million to raise its
domestic haul to $162.7 million.
Estimates for “Hannah Montana”
and “Monsters vs. Aliens” were
close enough that the movies
could switch rankings when final
numbers are reported Monday.
Jason Statham had a so-so
opening for his action sequel
“Crank: High Voltage,” which
came in at No. 6 with $6.5
1. “17 Again,” $24.1 million.
“State of Play,” $14.1 million.
“Monsters vs. Aliens,” $12.9 million.
“Hannah Montana: The Movie,” $12.7 million.
“Fast & Furious,” $12.3 million.
“Crank: High Voltage,” $6.5 million.
7. “Observe and Report,” $4.1 million.
8. “Knowing,” $3.5 million.
9. “I Love You, Man,” $3.4 million.
10. “The Haunting in Connecticut,” $3.2 million.
THE CAPITAL TIMES
“Lysistrata” contrasts those
things about us that bring about
some of our darkest choices and
our highest deeds. It talks about
lust that corrupts the body and
mind and rage that bloodies our
homes and fields - human nature’s
ability to blur the lines between
love and lust, rage and sacrifice.
At its heart, “Lysistrata” is a
dream of peace imagined from a
place of devastating and endless
war.
A courageous and intelligent
woman at a time when it was
absolutely unnecessary for a
woman to be anything but a
wife, a mother, a daughter, and
a sister, Lysistrata decides to put
an end to war by getting women
to agree to withholding sex from
their husbands.
Aristophanes is honest and
irreverent about the power of
sex. As a result, we are able
million, $4 million less than
the first weekend for the 2006
original.
The Lionsgate sequel features
Statham in a race to recover his
heart, which has been stolen by
organ thieves and replaced with a
mechanical one.
Hollywood maintained a record
box-office pace with just one
weekend to go before the busy
summer season arrives May 1 with
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine,”
Hugh Jackman’s spinoff of the
blockbuster “X-Men” franchise.
Overall revenues were at $ll2
million, up nearly 20 percent
to see what is as alluring,
fun, humorous, intoxicating,
powerful, repulsive, scary, and
taboo about sex and war.
Synetic sought to depict a
timeless world that does not
belong to any given period;
that does not give us the filter
or critical distance of ancient
comedy. Their inspirations for
this ceaseless war come from
Georgia, the Middle East, the
Balkans, inner-city America,
and the Old West. Synetic has
explored, in physical terms, the
overlap between the battle-zone
and the bedroom, the erotic
nature of war and the physical
violence of the domestic sphere.
The play starts in a climate that
has gotten so bad that only a
revolutionary act can turn the
tide. In a world hollowed-out by
numbness, Lysistrata inspires her
fellow women to reclaim what it
from the same weekend last year,
according to box-office tracker
Media By Numbers.
For the year, Media By Numbers
is trackingreceipts at $2.92 billion,
17.3 percent ahead of 2008’s and
well above the box-office pace of
2007, when Hollywood took in a
record $9.7 billion. Accounting
for higher ticket prices, movie
attendance this year is up 15.6
percent compared to last year’s.
il 22.2009
means to really feel,
What is exciting about
this collaboration between
Georgetown and Synetic is that
the story of Lysistrata is being
told honestly and irreverently.
It not only utilizes language,
poetry, song, and words, but
it also incorporates a specific
emphasis on the body through
breath and movement work.
In doing so, this production
allows spectators a more visceral
experience and point of entry
into what life is like for those
who anguish, breathe, dream,
hope, live, and lust day after day/
night after night for days, weeks,
months, and years on end in the
midst of unrelenting war.
Start your engines, turn on
you GPS systems and drive to
Synetic Theater in Washington
D.C. to personally explore the
magic world of theater.
The movie business is poised to
top $lO billion at the box office
for the first time in 2009, said
Paul Dergarabedian, president of
Media By Numbers.
“It’s going to be a record year,
because we’ve never had a start to
a year this strong,” Dergarabedian
said. “Unless the world goes off
its axis and spins into the sun, I
don’t see how we’re not going to
have a $lO billion year.”