Students to read ‘Lysistrata’ as peace appeal, Monday

   A reading of the 2,300 year-old Greek comedy Lysistrata will take place Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Princeton University’s Carl Icahn Laboratory, on Washington Road.
   The play reading is part of the international Lysistrata Project, in which theater artists from New York to San Francisco to Munich and Athens will be protesting war with Iraq by producing readings of the classic anti-war play on the same day.
   A moderated discussion of possible action and alternatives will follow the reading.
   Written by ancient Greek dramatist Aristophanes, Lysistrata tells the story of a group of women from opposing city-states who unite in Athens to end the Peloponnesian War.
   After matronly "battle-axes" take over the building where public funds are kept, the women rise up to end the war by withholding sex from their mates — until the men, desperate for intimacy, finally agree to lay down their swords and find a way to achieve peace through diplomacy.
   Proceeds from the reading will benefit MADRE, an international women’s human rights organization that works in conflict areas worldwide to address issues of health, education, economic development and other human rights. Funds from the reading will be specifically directed to MADRE’s "Every Child Has a Name" project which sends milk and medicine to children in Iraq.
   Lysistrata Project was conceived by New York actress Kathryn Blume.
   "I wanted to organize a reading of Lysistrata in New York as a benefit for humanitarian organizations working in Iraq. As I shared the idea with friends, it snowballed. Before I knew it, we were producing an international grass-roots peace movement by uniting the voices of theater artists throughout the world," Ms. Blame said.
   New York actress Sharron Bower, project co-founder, added, "The response from those in politically unstable countries has been very moving. Some of them will have to hold their readings in the privacy of their living rooms to avoid danger. But they tell us it’s worth the risk to be a part of this movement of hope."
   Tickets for the Princeton reading of Lysistrata are available for $5 and may be purchased at the door. For more information, or to reserve seats, call Ruby Pan at (609)-986-8965 or Josiah Pearsall at (609)-986-9514.
   Information about the Lysistrata Project is available at www.lysistrataproject.com.