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Tuesday, October 12, 2004
For the classical Greek audience, the performance of the dramatic chorus was as important as that of the actors and central to Athenian civic life. Productions of Greek tragedy and comedy, especially outside Greece, rarely include the full range of song and dance, on the part of both actors and chorus, found in the originals. Outside opera and musicals, the modern theater audience can find the Greek chorus alien, extraneous, or less engaging than the revelation of plot and character by actors. How do contemporary productions re-imagine the chorus for a modern audience in a fashion that makes it exciting and relevant? This panel will explore some remarkably successful recent efforts in this direction and discuss possibilities for the future. Presentation by Lydia Koniordou Leading classical Greek Actor and Stage Director, National Theater of Greece Presentation by Robert Woodruff Artistic Director, American Repertory Theater, Harvard University Presentation by Evan Ziporyn Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music, Head of Music and Theater Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Coordinated by Helene Foley Professor of Classics, Barnard College, Columbia University.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
The focus of this panel discussion will be an extraordinary phenomenon in
contemporary culture, the revival of public interest in the drama, especially the tragedy, of ancient Greece. The Greek plays that survive from the ancient world have always been read, studied and translated, just as in different media - drama, opera, film - they have been endlessly adapted and imitated, but the last twenty years have seen an enormous growth in demand for performances in the theater. This is not because there is a vogue for antiquarian revivals; audiences in many countries across the world want to see these old plays because they expect them to have something relevant to say about modern life. How do we make sense of this development, and how does it relate to other aspects of modern culture? Coordinated by Patricia Easterling, Regius Professor Emeritus of Greek, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Participants: Peter Burian, Professor of Classical and Comparative Literatures Chair, Department of Classical Studies, Duke University Helene Foley, Professor of Classics, Barnard College, Columbia University Robert Woodruff, Artistic Director, American Repertory Theater, Harvard University