1990: Hello, Out There! by William Saroyan

This is an interesting short play that makes a strong statement against the isolation of the individual and the social hypocrisy. It was written in 1949 and earned critical acclaim for Saroyan, who is considered among the great american playwrights.

Plot : The story takes place in a small town jailhouse, where a Young Man is being kept locked because he allegedly raped the Wife of a Man. Emily is the girl who cooks in the house and has a sympathetic interest in the prisoner. The night seems to be going slowly, until the husband of the Wife arrives at the jail and he is mad at the detained stranger. I have no pics from this stage production, but I can tell you I was the bad guy - I played the angry Man :-)

You can find some more information about this play here. This was my first attempt at theater, which I found it to be an eye-opening experience. This one-act was part of a two-piece set where the other piece was a powerful staging of the "Jewish Woman", by Berthold Brecht.

1991: Bury the Dead! by Irving Shaw

The outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991 prompted the Team to prepare an anti-war statement. This is a powerful play telling the story of 4 dead soldiers that will not subdue to their mortal destiny. As they recall their different, happy and sad lives in the time of peace, a strong case is made against the state of war. I did not participate in this production at all, but it would be a serious omission to overlook from the list this important piece of work by the Team :-)

1992: A Traveller by Maurice Dryon

This short play (“Un Voyageur”) was written in 1953 by the french academic Maurice Dryon (1918-2009), and lies in the repertoire of the French Comedy (Comédie française). It is a short, sharp story with an edge. Under its entertaining veil, this piece makes some strong social criticism on reasons that can trigger unethical behavior, and at the same time it remains a delightful comedy.

Plot : A traveller arrives at a hotel in Milan, Italy. From his room he places two phone calls inviting separately an industry boss and his charming wife to meet with him. In a short time he manages to ink a business deal with the husband and seduce his spouse. But there's more than meets the eye in this mystery set of people when all of them get together in the same room.

The play has mystery, romance, suspence, comedy, all in good doses and in perfect timing. I played the money-driven business husband who is in for quite a few escalating surprises as the story progresses.

1990: Uncle BigMac Duck by Augusto Boal

This play is an incredible mix of politics, cartoon and music that was written in the 1970s. The author is the brazilian-born director Augusto Boal. Boal actually set out as a Ph.D. Chemical Engineer from the Columbia University, and after his graduation he got seriously involved in theater. He is better known as the inventor of the Theater of the Oppressed, rather than a playwright. Skillfully put together in the turmoil of the late 1960's, this is a latin-american style lively and anthemic comedy of extreme dramatic proportions!

Plot : A ruthless investor comes to a third-world country and tries to take over its economy. On his way, he has to deal with a very co-operating President and the furious students and workers movement. When cornered, the investor deploys the Alliance for Justice - a nifty super-heroes get-together featuring the likes of Superman and Batman, among others - to enforce the law and order. Now, you have to believe me when I say that any events or similarities to present people or facts whatsoever in this play is purely coincidental!

As incredible as the play itself is, bringing it to life it was an even more amazing feat. 27 people took part in one of the early most ambitious theatrical productions of the University Theater Team. The play turned out to become a musical and was a big success with the audiences. Among the interesting trivia: The Team members undertook two or more parts to cover the needs of this production. Yours truly played Sakini (a Japanese character taken from the 1953 play “Liberating the Teahouse”, the President’s Butler (now you know who did it) and ...Superman.

1995: Clouds by Aristophanes

Plot : In the “Clouds”, written in 417 b.C., the story revolves around a poor peasant who wants to avoid paying his debts and save his son from the false (as Aristophanes believed) tutoring of the sophist philosophers. At the time of Aristophanes (ca.446 - ca.386 BC), one of the philosophers tasks was education of the young men; the category of the sophists -among which Socrates is one of the best known representatives- was not very popular among the conservative part of the society, as they were philosophers who strongly criticized the existing status quo. Aristophanes was among the people who showed disbelief and animosity towards the sophist philosophers, and this is evident in “Clouds”. Thus, driven by his financial hardship, the peasant convinces his son to learn the tools of the Unjust Discourse, so that he can use them against his creditors. The situation becomes interesting when the very same idea ends up backfiring on the father.

This production resulted in an enjoyable play, in which I contributed by undertaking once again the sound manager tasks.

1993: 5 Drops of Loneliness - 5 Short Plays

A collection of short pieces by various playwrights with a common denominator: Loneliness - at home, in the family, among friends, in society. The following shorts were staged:

* "Hysteria" (by George Skourtis)

* "Panoramic View of a Nightly Job" (by Marios Pontikas)

* "At Liberty" (by Tennessee Williams)

* "The Lady of Larkspur Lotion" (by Tennessee Williams)

* "Something Unspoken" (by Tennessee Williams)

The team chose an excellent topic to make a statement on, but the production turned out to be based on heavy drama. As a result, the audience response made it one of the less popular productions in the Team's history...

This was the first time I was collaborated with the Team on technical duties, where I handled for the first time ever the stage lights. I am not sure how I exactly did with those, but I did do a great job scaring the director's living daylights while on the task...

1994: The Seagull by Anton Chekhov

Chekhov finished writing his classic in 1895. This was also one of the Team’s ambitious productions. In particular, it was the first time professional artists participated for the staging of this play in the fields of costume & stage design, and music. This joint attempt resulted in the creation of an impressive stage atmosphere during the shows. This time around I took part in the production as the sound manager. I also held a briefest, silent (but instrumental, I think!) role as a Cook for the sake of appearing on stage :-)

Here's a brief collection of my experience in theater. As of yet, all of it comes from my student years at the University of Crete in Greece. I had the pleasure and honor to have been part of this pretty diverse, ever changing group of people that would gather every now and then, to discuss, argue, comment on life, and feel the need to express themselves. These personal statements were the plays we would stage, and the result was utterly the attempt to bring closer the University to the community ...and often further out. As an echo of these times, here follow some of these interesting, unknown little gems of the world dramaturgic library I have been involved with, and the twistedly interesting interpretation offered to them by us, the amateurs in love with the art of theater at the Theater Team of University of Crete...

Click on the camera icons next to the following titles to see photos from the shows, where available.

In addition to this, there exist video recordings of selected shows for some of the plays, which I used to produce a series of DVDs back in 2004. Upon completion of the digitization task I offered a copy of the DVD series to each of the Group of Culture of the University of Crete (in Iraklio) and the Vikelaia Library of Iraklio. The plays for which this video material exists are shown in the following with a DVD icon next to their title.