BY: Annie Hart

A hilarious sexually driven comedy, with a beautiful hidden meaning of finding your own path and own love, Lysistrata Jones captivated audiences and left all of us wanting more this past weekend at Shenandoah University.

Lysistrata Jones is a spunky modern musical version of a classic Athenian comedy by Aristophanes. This show revolves around Lyssie J. and her desire to make her college’s men’s basketball team finally win a game.

In a leap of faith, after reading the spark notes of Aristophanes “unabridged”, Lysistrata convinces her gal pals to stop “giving it up” to their boyfriends until they win a game.

While this show is very clearly an energetic comedy, Kyle Mangold, the junior Musical Theatre major who played the quirky, lovable character of Xander said that it tries to relay the “message that it is okay to break out of social norms”.

Lysistrata Jones teaches the audience that love is a part of finding out who you are.

The cheerleader and basketball player realize they don’t belong together and fall in love with the blogger and the poet respectively.  While another basketball player falls in love with another, and another finally loves himself enough to stop being what he isn’t, A.K.A. a “pimp daddy” and embrace his true self.

The whole cast put every bit of effort they could into this production. The vocals were moving and passionate. Shelbea Owen who played Hetaira and Carly Grissom who played the title role of Lysistrata Jones had powerful, emotionally driven voices that gave me chills every song. Zachary Bigelow who played Mick and Kyle Mangold who played Xander have a unique talent for the stage that captivates and excites everyone who is watching.

Lysistrata Jones shows the audience that love is what  is needed to win. Having that delivered in the time of social struggles we are going through today is vastly important, especially for college students who are going to shape the future.