Prometheus Bound at Uprising Theatre

It's always fun to see a show at a new theatre. I haven't seen anything by Uprising Theatre Company but I really love what they stand for. Before I jump into my review, I wanted to take a second and talk about their community partners. For this show, they had community partners with Women's Prison Book Project, Minnesota Freedom Fund and Neighborhoods Organizing for Chance (NOC). What do I love more than theatre? Theatre with a cause! I love when an organization raises money or awareness for something like this.

Prometheus Bound is a greek tragedy by Aeschylus. It is about a god who broke the law and gave the gift of fire to humans. Prometheus is punished by Zeus and is chained to a rock for all eternity. On Uprising Theatre Company's website, they discuss how the show is relevant in this time with the fact that many Americans in prison are serving unjust and long duration punishments for small crimes.

The show was personally not my cup of tea. I am hesitant with classical plays however I try to see as much as I can because of the lengths companies can go with them. Because there is not a lot of direction in the actual text, theatre's can be very creative with the messaging and themes they portray along with the setting and time periods and that is something I commend Uprising Theatre Company for. However I think they could have gone even further with this theme.

Prometheus was cast as an African-American woman which I absolutely loved. The show certainly spoke to this time period with the fact that she was a character who had two white males constantly oppressing her and telling her what she could and couldn't do. I thought this was a smart choice in casting and certainly was a theme they were trying to go for (especially being a theatre with a Black Lives Matter poster hanging in the window).

Often times I found myself wanting more. Wanting more from the set, the costumes and even the actors. I felt that some of the actors maybe were almost in a different play or mindset as some of the other actors. I felt at times they could go even bigger with their choices they made. Classical theatre can be intimidating to audiences like Greek and Shakespeare. The question always rises of "Will I be able to understand what's going on?" This is crucial and important for actors to not only tell the story but understand the story so well that the audience understands it as well. Even as someone who has seen, performed and studied theatre, at times I felt lost. Not knowing exactly where or what was going on.

I'm looking forward to seeing another show with Uprising to see how they change up other classical pieces along with adding community partners. I think when theatre combines with a philanthropic efforts, it makes it that much more impact.