Lysistrata (BAM)

Mercedes Ruehl reads the title role in Lysistrata, presented as part of The Lysistrata Project’s day of worldwide readings of the ancient Greek anti-war comedy in an effort to protest war in Iraq. Aristophanes’ play tells the story of women from opposing states who unite to end a war by refusing to sleep with their husbands until the men agree to lay down their swords. Powerless in their society and distraught over too many of their children being slaughtered in battle, the women take the only tactic available to them: they withhold sex. The cast includes F. Murray
Abraham, Kevin Bacon, Peter Boyle, Kathleen Chalfont, Delphi Harrington, Kyra Sedgwick, Lori Singer, David Strathairn, and more. Ellen McLaughlin directs.