Theatre Aspen students tackle ‘The Women of Lockerbie’ through Greek tragedy retelling
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Theatre Aspen students will take on a contemporary drama about the aftermath of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie bombing in its high school winter production.
The production of “The Women of Lockerbie” will open on Thursday, Feb. 15 at the Aspen District Theatre.
“The Women of Lockerbie” was a play first published in 2005 by author Deborah Brevoort. It is about the aftermath of the bombing of the Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and is loosely inspired by a true story. The play follows a mother from New Jersey who comes to Lockerbie looking for her son’s remains that were lost in the crash of the flight. She meets the women of Lockerbie, who are fighting the U.S. government to obtain the clothing of the victims found in the plane’s wreckage to wash them and return them to the victims’ families.
It is a departure from the musical comedies Theatre Aspen produces in its fall student productions, and has allowed the students to explore a more serious show, director James Early said.
“It’s been really eye-opening to see them really take on this more serious material and be willing to tackle such a hard topic,” Early said. “They’re a very fun group as an ensemble, so they’re willing to be silly in the moments that they can be silly, but then also really rein in their focus and dive into the material.”
The play has also allowed the students to explore a different type of theater, Early said. “The Women of Lockerbie” is written in the form of a Greek tragedy, with a chorus of women narrating the show.
“This is sort of a fictionalized aftermath of the Lockerbie attack, so having that connection to a real-world event, we think is interesting and grounding for the kids as they are thinking about character development,” said Vanessa Strahan, director of Theatre Aspen’s education program.
To prepare for the show, the 11 high school students learned about the history of the event and the history of Lockerbie itself. Lockerbie is a small town in the south of Scotland.
Early worked with the students to understand the global politics that led to the attack and its aftermath.
Students also had to learn to recite their lines in a Scottish accent, often going through the script word by word to perfect the dialect.
While the students weren’t alive during the events of the play, Early hopes parents and other community members who remember the attack come to the show to see how it pays homage to the events in Lockerbie. It is also an opportunity for people to see a different type of theater, he said.
“In the valley, we see a lot of musicals, so I think this is an awesome chance to see a new and different type of theater onstage,” Early said. “To see it being tackled by high schoolers is really cool because this is a production that I would have seen in college, so I think it’s really cool that they are tackling it now.”
“I’m also really excited because this was an event that happened in the ’80s, so some family members and community members might have remembered this. It’ll be cool to see what they remember and how we pay homage to this event in history,” he added.
The play will be shown at the Aspen District Theatre at 7 p.m. Feb. 15-17 and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 18. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students and teachers. Tickets are available at theatreaspen.org/lockerbie.
Theatre Aspen students tackle ‘The Women of Lockerbie’ through Greek tragedy retelling
Theatre Aspen students will take on a contemporary drama about the aftermath of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie bombing in its high school winter production.
