Working with an outrageous script like Lysistrata means that the characters will also have to be seen as outrageous in order for the script to come across. Portraying characters that are too true to life would hurt the play; the satire needs to come through. If Mel Brooks's 1968 film, The Producers, (in which a play about the Holocaust was produced) had been played more real-to-life, it would would have been jarring instead of funny; we would have wondered if Brooks actually sympathized with the Nazis.

We are also working with stereotypes, which can be dangerous. We need to show the ridiculousness of stereotypes by portraying our characters as ridiculous. By doing this, we acknowledge that these stereotypes exist while showing the audience that we do not take them seriously. This opens us up to laugh at these inane beliefs. This is why I love working with broad comedy such as this; it allows to us be over-the-top and almost otherworldy.

One of the biggest challenges of working with a script like this is that, even though we are using the script of the play to work as an antiwar satire, there is an inherent sexism worked into the play that we need to work against. It's a challenge to do so while still remaining true to the text of the play.

This is also the second play that I have worked with where the cast has played "The Hot Seat." It's a game where each actor takes the "hot seat" and is drilled with questions by the other "characters" sitting in front of her/him. This gives characters a chance to interact with each other in a way that they may not have otherwise. It also gives characters who don't interact with each other at all a chance to finally do so. I wasn't sure how well this would work with such "out there" characters, but it worked better than I thought it would; it had very intriguing results. I always find it extremely stressful at first, but it always ends up being a lot of fun. I have to admit that I felt a little uneasy when I responded as the sexist, overbearing Rod, just because I had to trust that the cast would realize that I was not truly responding as I would, but as my character would. It could have easily been seen as a group of guys using the activity as an excuse to rail against women. The game was beneficial and appropriate--I'm definitely glad we played--those were just my insecurities coming through.