McLaughlin’s play brings home these issues to a contemporary audience by placing her mythological characters in a modern setting—an Egyptian hotel room with a TV that gets the Weather Channel.

“There are allusions in the play to Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Onassis, Princess Diana and other celebrity beauties,” Kelso says. “What do we want from them? What happens to them as a consequence of their celebrity?”

But the play deals with other issues of womanhood. “What it’s like to grow up and make the change from being a girl to being a woman. The idea of living in our bodies or being separated from our bodies.”

“In this play, Helen is like the fairy princess, like Snow White, waiting for years in this hotel room, waiting for her husband to rescue her. McLaughlin plays around with that whole issue of women waiting, creating their own stories of needing to be rescued.”

Then there are the issues of fate, destiny and choice represented by the Greek gods. “Those are big questions for Helen. In the play, the goddess Athena suggests that the gods arranged the Trojan War for their own amusement. But Helen wonders if humans themselves haven’t made up the gods, so they would have someone to blame things on.”

Reminded that as a playwright, her own plays (like Relative Captivity, recently produced at HSU) often feature gods and goddesses, Kelso explains, “I think they’re fun. They’re so outrageous, but they each represent different psychological aspects of ourselves. They’re a way of poking fun at ourselves.”

As for this production, Kelso says she’s discovered that “this play is a wonderful vehicle for actors. All the actors have opportunities for comedy and for serious moments. It stretches the actors, and ours are rising to the challenge. They’re all doing a great job.”

Kelso expects audiences “will have a fun evening, but they’ll leave with something to think about. It’s a play that has substance, but it’s also very entertaining.”