The Action-Packed ATHENA Hit Its Mark With Grace And Fierce Competition
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis closes out this season’s Steve Woolf Studio Series with Athena, by Gracie Gardner. The compelling play captivates with fencing, dramatic tension, a few coming of age moments, and the potential for true friendship. Strong performances by Jailyn Genyse and Isa Venere and sharp direction by Nancy Bell keep the story and performers constantly in motion, increasing the sense of competition between the fencers and putting the audience on the edge of their seats from the opening parry to the decisive point.
Athena and Mary Wallace are 17-year-old high school students and competitive fencers who are advanced enough to set a goal of making it to Nationals, the premiere competition for young fencers. Athena wins their initial bout, letting out a victorious howl as Mary Wallace breaks down in tears; both women wanted to win, only one could. Athena suggests that they train together, Mary Wallace hesitates but eventually agrees. Though the two are from vastly different backgrounds – one lives in a rundown apartment in the city, the other in a big suburban home – they find they have more than just athletic ambition and college hopes in common. As the qualifying rounds approach, it becomes clear that they will likely compete against each other for a single spot at Nationals. Can their tenuous friendship and training partnership survive?
Venere is intense and formidable as Athena, a young woman with a tough home life who devotes all her free time to improving her fencing prowess. She has built walls to protect herself from the cruelty she’s experienced; but occasionally she lets her guard down, revealing vulnerability and a genuine longing for a friend. Genyse gives Mary Wallace an authentic but complacent confidence and a reticent demeanor that belies a steely resolve. Although she’s competitive, she’s less enthusiastic about fencing – she took up the sport to improve her college admissions resumé and please her parents. She raises her game quickly, however, and proves the perfect foil to Athena’s aggressive posture, eventually matching her partner in determination, grit, and commitment. Venere and Genyse create characters filled with typical teenage doubts, insecurities, and longings. They develop believable chemistry as they train together, starting with trepidation and suspicion and evolving into a shaky, fragile sort of friendship. As Jamie, the opponent at Nationals, Carmen Cecilia Retzer has a nice scene that reveals the lasting effect of Athena and Mary Wallace’s relationship.
Bell’s insightful direction keeps the focus tight, ensuring the friendship, however uncertain, feels organically derived and the transitions and mood changes realistic and palpable. The characters are interesting, fun to watch, and, if you know young women of this age, likely to elicit more than one recognizably familiar moment. Scenic designer Seth Howard uses the intimate studio theater space well, creating a platform stage for fencing practice and bouts, with cubbies and floor space for transitions and other locations. Costume designer Renee Garcia builds around the fencing uniforms the women wear, effectively adding and removing layers, while lighting designer Jayson M. Lawshee and sound designer Jimmy Bernatowicz add depth and texture to the story, keeping the audience involved in the play while directing focus and attention to each scene. Finally, fight director Paul Steger and fencing consultant Annamaria Lu add finesse and fluidity, ensuring the fencing scenes are engaging and believable while fully connecting with the story and characters.
The Rep’s production of Athena, continuing through February 9, is an engrossing, contemporary show that grabs your interest with realistic, emotionally appealing, and at times heartfelt scenes that successfully build and hold dramatic tension. Rather than embracing a generic “girl power” motif, playwright Gardner delves into ideas of self-empowerment, achievement, and the constraints, perceived limitations, and societal expectations young women face. Fans of fencing, action movies with emerging heroes, or teen dramas with poignant, relatable characters, and anyone who enjoys stories of self-discovery will want to put this quick moving, one-act play on their “must see” list.
