A Sacramento State theatre professor has put a unique twist on the classic Greek tragedy, “Medea”.

Professor Richard Bay, who is producing and directing the piece at Sac State, uses life-size puppets as well as live music to tell the story.

“We use a Japanese style of puppetry called Bun Raku, where two people control one puppet at a time,” Bay said.

Bay’s puppets are very sophisticated.

“In my advanced puppetry class, we designed and built the puppets. We even had a costume technician design the puppet’s clothing,” Bay said.

Bay’s daughter, a professor at Colgate University, rewrote the script, incorporating both its Greek and Roman versions along with an original twist of her own.

“She’s made it more contemporary,” Bay said.

The story is centered on a woman?s revenge, and what would make her kill her own children.

Bay said that the show causes you to think.

“Why is she evil? How is she evil? Why would a mother resort to this?” Bay said.

The show hasn’t sold out yet, but Bay expects the upcoming shows to do much better.

“The more people hear about it, the more interested they are to come. People love revenge stories,” Bay said.

Bay is a puppeteer with international credentials and has performed in a variety of international and local venues.

His most recent Sac State production, A Thousand Cranes was selected as an American College Theatre Festival winner and was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.

“Medea” began shows May 2, and will continue through May 12, at 8pm, with 2pm Sunday matinees in the Playwrights’ Theatre in Shasta Hall.

Tickets are $12 general and $7 for students, and alumni.Tickets are available at the CSUS Ticket office at 278-4323, or at Tickets.com.