Students Explore Greek Tragedy in Creative Performance
How far would you go to stand up for your beliefs?
That’s the question Millbrook’s theater department provoked audiences to ponder through its stirring performance of the 2025 fall play, Antigone. The ancient Greek tragedy is a perfect choice in a year the community focuses on our core value of integrity, and Theater Director Elaine Lifter and Millbrook’s thespians pulled out all the stops to put on a fully engaging show.
“It’s different than other musicals and plays we’ve put on so far, or at least in my time,” commented Andrea Taitt ’27, the assistant director of the play. “We kind of lean more toward funny, and with this we just decided, you know what, Greek tragedy. Bam. Sadness, death.”
Taking on a somber story heavily reliant on dialog, the theater department used special effects to produce a vibrant multimedia performance. “There are some technical things that haven’t been done before,” noted stage manager Anna Alphonso ’27, referencing projected images and video footage of protests—and footage of Antigone burying Polynices, shot by the theater crew—on panels hung around the stage.
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The protest imagery underscores the play’s modern-day relevance through its connection to resistance movements throughout history—a fact the cast and crew studied in a special class with Vassar College senior Natalie Buzzell. However, the performance isn’t didactic. “It allows the audience to have this interpretation of what they perceive the play to be about, and I feel like that’s exciting,” explained chorus-member Chanya Johnson ’26.
The production also moved the actors all over the theater to immerse the audience in the tale and tension. From the opening scene, in which cast members rush the stage waving protest signs to Creon’s dramatic entrance from behind the audience to the members of the chorus delivering lines from the stairs, seats, and stage, there was nary a dull moment.
Olivia Biller ’27 (Antigone) and Brooke Ness ’27 (Ismene) delivered convincing performances as the story’s grieving sisters. Josiah Guildes ’26 and Blake Frost ’27 took turns portraying a commanding Creon throughout the four-performance run, and Andrew Stambaugh ’26 shone as Creon’s son Haemon. Marvelous Aderibigbe ’26 doubled as Teiresias and a member of the chorus, which also featured Nina Chen ’28, Annie Huang ’28 (who also played Eurydice), Chanya Johnson ’26, and Andrea Taitt ’26. Charlotte Lee ’28 (Teiresias’ attendant), Ellie Myers ’26 (a soldier), and Darvin Gjoni ’29 (a messenger) rounded out the cast of tragic characters.
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Antigone is required reading for the IIIrd form each year, so much of the cast was already familiar with the content and enjoyed bringing it to life for this year’s IIIrd formers. The reading was moved to coincide with the play, and the theater department watched a National Theater production of the play with the IIIrd form during the rehearsal process. A true interdisciplinary affair, the thespians also collaborated with ceramics class, which made the chorus masks, and the music production class, which scored some of the play.
Performing a centuries-old play is a tall task for any group of actors, much less high school students. But the cast more than rose to the challenge.
“Something about the heightened nature of the text made everybody just step up and perform at a level that we don't usually see on a high school stage,” said Ms. Lifter. “Just because it's Greek theater, they've stepped into it in a way that you don't usually see with other types of plays.”
If you didn’t get the chance to watch Antigone live in the Chelsea Morrison Theater, that’s the real tragedy! However, there’s a happy ending, as you can watch the recordings of each cast’s performance below:
Antigone - Cast 1
Antigone - Cast 2
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