ReVamp Collective and Plays & Players Theatre present Kristen Scatton's 'The Helen Project'

At 95 minutes, staged briskly by Carly L. Bodnar, The Helen Project feels more like a sketch than a portrait, but the feminist company’s aim is true.

Young Helen

Bodnar arranged the 50-seat Skinner Studio on Plays & Players’ third floor with audience on four sides. Before the show begins, the cast rushes onstage to set props and kibbitz playfully.

All are barefoot in black tights and solid-color shirts, calling each other “Helen.” They’re unhappy with Helen’s depiction in plays and textbooks. “Let’s just try it,” one says, and they embark on their own version of Helen’s story.

Some events are relayed in choral form: Zeus raped Helen’s mother, and Helen hatched from an egg. But we first meet the half-goddess at age 12, when Marisol Custodio plays her as a tomboy who prefers a bow and arrow to a dress. Lesley Berkowitz plays her pushy mother.

At 15, she’s played by Ontaria Kim Wilson as an aspiring fashion model, gossiped about on the TV show Access Sparta (hosted by Hannah Hammel). She poses with a big lollipop for an innocent-yet-sexy look.

Two years later, she’s played by Donovan Lockett as a superstar, expected to marry “like I’m some ultimate arm candy.” When she finds Menelaus (Wilson), their royal wedding is attended by meddling goddesses Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera.

Grown-up Helen

A few years later, Menelaus is off fighting wars, and Helen raises daughter Hermione alone. When Trojan hero Paris woos her, Helen (Phillips) is tempted – but he doesn’t want the kid tagging along.

Scatton adds a clever fantasy twist that sends the story in two directions simultaneously. The surprise gives a new urgency to the Trojan War story and also leads to a compassionate conclusion.

The Helen Project’s finale feels sudden, but accomplishes much: after all the 21st-century jokes, the Helens start to achieve 21st-century fulfillment, and it’s a powerful, genuine moment.

Bodnar achieves all this in a small, simple space with low-tech theatricality. The cast creates sound effects and music. When a Helen needs to gaze into a mirror, a frame is held by another actor who becomes the mirror’s image. The performers adeptly define each new role, assisted by simple costume pieces.

The Helen Project reconsiders a woman always described as a beauty, but often little else besides victim or slut. Helen must be a person, not a device or an object. The Helen Project succeeds in leading us to see her as a force for women who feel “eternally trapped in their own skin.”