the company

Melissa Barker is delighted to be back on the Whistler stage for season six. Other Whistler credits include Family Stories, The Europeans (staged reading) and The Bacchae. Melissa has also performed with imaginary beasts, National Theatre of Allston and most recently with New Exhibition Room at the New York Fringe Festival. Melissa studied theatre at Suffolk University.

Scott Sweatt is excited to be back with the Whistlers after last fall's production of In on It and The Europeans. He spent the summer touring with Momentum Theatre Troupe, on a truck that unfolds into a stage, sharing productions of: The Tempest, The Leader, and an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky. Around Boston he has worked with New Repertory Theatre on productions of boom!, and Picasso at the Lapin Agile, at Stoneham Theatre in My Fair Lady, GAN-e-meed's production of Silence, and The Donkey Show at the ART. He has also worked with Exquisite Corps on their Infinite Story project devoted to developing plays of Boston playwrights. He earned an MFA in Acting from Columbia University, and a BS in Theatre from Skidmore College. Scott joins Whistler as an Artistic Associate for the 6th season with roles in The Europeans and Aunt Dan and Lemon.

Mac Young is an Artistic Associate with Whistler in the Dark. This marks his third endeavor with Whistler, after The Europeans, and IRNE nominated Tales from Ovid. Mac is also a company member with Imaginary Beasts (Moliére Squared, Crazy Locomotive, Winter Panto 2010 & 2011). Other appearances include Holland Production's Aloha, Say The Pretty Girls, Zeitgeist Stage's Bad Jazz, and ArtFarm Production's premiere, Kim and Delia. Mac's work as a freelance scenic designer and set carpenter includes contributions for Siamsa Theatre Co. (Thirst, A Pound on Demand), Holland Productions (Kid Simple, Melancholy Play), Imaginary Beasts (Moliére Squared, Crazy Locomotive), Whistler in the Dark  (The Europeans), New Exhibition Room (Storytime Preservation Hour) and Bad Habit (Book of Days). Mac holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Theatre from Bennington College.

Euripides was born sometime between 485 and 480 BC in Macedonia, and is the third of the three major tragedians whose work survives to today. He presented his first set of tragedies in Athens in 455, won his first victory (of only five that he would win in his lifetime) in 441 and died in 406 (the same year as Sophocles), at the court of King Archelous of Macedon where he was either a guest or an exile. He wrote between 88-92 plays during the course of his life, nineteen of which survive.

The year following his death, his son brought his final three plays – The Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis and Alcmaeon at Corinth – to Athens, where they were produced and garnered the playwright his final victory.

Francis Blessington (translator) In addition to translating The Bacchae of Euripides, Francis Blessington has translated The Frogs of Aristophanes and published a play, Lorenzo de’ Medici. He has published two books of poems, Lantskip and Wolf Howl, as well a novel, The Last Witch of Dogtown. He is a Milton specialist, the author of Paradise Lost and the Classical Epic and Paradise Lost: Ideal and Tragic Epic (A Student’s Companion to the Poem). His essays, poems, and short stories have appeared in the Harvard Magazine, The Sewanee Review, The Southern Review, and many other journals. A Ph.D. from Brown, he teaches at Northeastern University in Boston and lives with his wife, the poet Ann Taylor, and their two children. He also works part-time on a farm in Spain.