Staff photo by Connor Cummiskey The Martin Luther College Reader’s Theater crew works hard to finish a stage building called a skene for a show that opens Friday, Dec. 9.

NEW ULM — Prepare for a Greek tragedy this weekend on the Martin Luther College campus.

Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9, and Saturday, Dec. 10. On Sunday, Dec.11, the show starts at 2 p.m. All performances will be in the Wittenberg Collegiate Center auditorium. Tickets are $2 for children and $4 for adults.

Three excerpts from English Teacher Zachary Hamby’s books on Greek mythology will be presented. They are the stories of Daedalus and Icarus, Odysseus fighting the cyclops and the story of the golden fleece.

In this performance, each story is a fable that a deceased father wrote in a letter to his daughter — the narrator of the show. The main characters will also be reading lines from large scrolls.

“It is different from a regular drama performance in that the emphasis is really placed on the lines,” Director Joey Loescher said. “You are drawn into what they are saying more than how they are interacting with each other.”

The show also uses some conventional set pieces for a Greek show.

“We wanted to have it reflect Greek theater and one of the big things in Greek theater was a stage building called a skene,” Loescher said.

The skene was a building on the stage that had some forward facing entrances and a platform often used for depicting gods in the heavens.

The show also draws on the tradition of a Greek chorus. However, instead of the usual singing, they will be largely a visual element.

“We have a Greek chorus and they do not do much verbal communication with the other actors but they do provide the movement and some of the action to the scene,” Loescher said.