If you’re looking for a new, female-centered play with a flexible cast that’s perfect for university or high school programs, I highly recommend Aglaonike’s Tiger. It imagines the life of the early Greek astronomer Aglaonike with witches, goddesses, puppets, masks, and a tangoing tiger, and is a designer’s dream show. We just staged it at Western Kentucky University, and it was beautiful.
– Carol Herin Jordan, director
Annie Davis, Hailey Armstrong, Deidra Alexander, and Janie Tyler in the WKU production. Photos and design by Cavan Hendron,
Claudia Barnett’s daring, poetic and dryly funny play imagines the life of Aglaonike, the ancient Greek female astronomer. Championing science when her contemporaries swear by mysticism and magic, Aglaonike confronts hucksters, visits the underworld, and befriends a tiger.
—Celia Wren, The Washington Post
The sophisticated script by Claudia Barnett brings us along for the journey with such a neat ebb and flow that it’s easy to find yourself hanging onto her every word.
—Debbie Minter Jackson, DC Theatre Scene
This mesmerizing coming-of-age tale seamlessly wends its way into Greek mythology through the eyes of an insatiably intellectual young woman, Aglaonike. And her tiger. Potent, powerful, and provocative, a true woman’s tale for the ages, Barnett’s story possesses temporal ubiquity that transcends great distances, making it smart, relevant and poignant now more than ever to the modern-day woman as she continues to strive for equality in her quest for knowledge.
—Amanda N. Gunther, TheatreBloom
Hailey Armstrong, Annie Davis, and Sabas Del Toro in the WKU production. Photo by E. Shura Pollatsek.
Amanda Stine, Brenden Peifer, and Maya C. Boyd in the University of Pittsburgh production of Aglaonike's Tiger. Photo by Amanda Olmstead.
Janie Tyler and Arielle Conrad in the WKU production. Photo by Rachel Turner.
Meredith Sullivan and Krista Marie Ivan in the University of Pittsburgh production of Aglaonike's Tiger. Owl puppet by Michael McDevitt. Photo by Amanda Olmstead.
Maya C. Boyd and Brenden Peifer in the University of Pittsburgh production of Aglaonike's Tiger. Photo by Amanda Olmstead.
Synopsis. Aglaonike, the first female astronomer, could predict lunar eclipses, but her science was suspect because she was a woman. She therefore billed herself as a sorceress and claimed she could draw down the moon. Inspired by her unsung history, this coming-of-age play follows the protagonist through a series of challenges, both magical and scientific. Drawing on ancient Greek traditions and postmodern performance techniques, Aglaonike's Tiger is stylized and visual and uses puppets and masks to explore political and scientific themes. 5W, 1M. (flexible cast)
Aglaonike's Tiger had its first staged reading at the Summer Reading Salon of March Forth Productions in New York on August 4, 2014.
Aglaonike's Tiger had a staged reading at the Magic City Reading Series at the Carver Theatre in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 25, 2015. Directed by Bree Windham.
Aglaonike's Tiger had a workshop production at 5th Wall Productions in Charleston, South Carolina. July 15-17, 2016. Directed by Blair Cadden.
Aglaonike's Tiger had a lab production at the University of Pittsburgh Stages, October 12-16, 2016. Directed by Shelby Brewster, with puppets and masks by Michael McDevitt.
Aglaonike's Tiger premiered at Venus Theatre in Laurel, Maryland, September 7-October 1, 2017. Directed by Deborah Randall.
Aglaonike's Tiger had a mainstage production at Western Kentucky University, February 21-26, 2019. Directed by Carol Herin Jordan. Costume design by E. Shura Pollatsek.
Aglaonike’s Tiger has a digital performance at Texas A&M University, Nov. 18-20, 2020. Directed by Anne Quackenbush.
Ann Fraistat and Matthew Marcus in the Venus Theatre production of Aglaonike's Tiger. Photo by Mike Landsman.