Students create podcasts expounding Greek myths

Randolph students are taking the study of ancient mythology to another level with a series of podcasts that tell the varied stories of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, monsters, and epic adventures.

Amy Cohen, a classics professor and the director of the Center for Ancient Drama, assigned students in her Classical Mythology class to research lesser-known myths and record broadcasts. Dubbed the Mythcasters, the series includes a show every Wednesday evening on Randolph College’s student-run radio station, the WWRM, followed by a rebroadcast on Saturday morning.

The show’s archive can be heard at http://wwrm.org/

Samantha Strickler ’17 said she was nervous about the idea of recording a radio show,  but it turned out to be a fun way to learn about the myths.

She and Elizabeth Dean ’16 worked together to produce an episode about the myth of Admetus and Alcestis. (You can listen to their episode here.) By researching the myth and reading different versions of the story, Strickler learned about alternate endings, the way that myths handle time and story progression, and other details that she would have not learned otherwise. “We wanted to get more in depth about it,” she said. “We found out all these different things that we would not have learned if we had just read it once and then retold the story.”

Other stories explained by the Mythcasters this semester include the stories of Daedalus, Chimaera, Orion, and more.

This week, the one group of Mythcasters will explain the story of Hermione, followed by another group with the myth of the Harpies.

Classics professor going to Iliad seminar

Amy R. Cohen, a classics professor at Randolph College, looks forward to spending time delving into the details of the Iliad this summer. She is one of 20 professors nationwide chosen to participate in a seminar on the Greek epic poem about the Trojan War in July.

The Council of Independent Colleges and the Center for Hellenic Studies is hosting the conference in July as part of the “Ancient Greece in the Modern Classroom” seminar series. Cohen and other professors at the conference will read and analyze the Iliad and discuss numerous issues related to teaching the literature to today’s college students.

Cohen, director of the Greek Play at Randolph, teaches students about the Iliad in one form or another in most of her classes, so she expects to bring many insights back to her classroom. She also expects to enjoy spending significant time studying the work of Homer, the Greek poet who helped inspire her interest in the classics.

“I have come to love the clear and complicated expression of Greek heroism in the Iliad,” Cohen said. “Homer’s men, women, and gods are fallible and frightening but redeemable and worth getting to know. The seminar will give me the opportunity to spend intensive time with these characters, to see them from new perspectives, and to learn about them from some of the leading scholars in the field.”

Cohen also is the director of the Randolph College Center for Ancient Drama. In addition to producing the Greek Play, the center publishes Didaskalia, a journal on ancient drama performance, and hosts a conference on that topic every two years.

Apply for summer program in archeology and art conservation

What if you could spend your summer restoring ancient art and architecture in Italy—while enjoying the country’s beautiful scenery and fantastic cuisine?

That is the opportunity available through the Archaeological Conservation Institute (ACI), a unique month-long program offered by Randolph College’s classics department. For the past two summers, Randolph students interested in archaeology, art history, and classics have had hands-on experience with projects such as resetting ancient Roman mosaics.

This year’s program, from May 14 to June 12, will include the opportunity to excavate Sant’Imbenia, an ancient Phoenician port village on the Italian island of Sardinia. Applications are due Feb. 1, and you can download an application here.

Claire Sumner ’15 is excited to attend ACI for the second year in a row. “I think that if students have any interest in conservation or archaeology it is a great introduction to both fields. Plus, you get to explore Italy. What could be better?”

Randolph launched ACI in partnership with the Centro di Conservazione Archeologica (Center for Archaeological Conservation) and the renowned conservationist Roberto Nardi in 2011. Sumner, an art history and museum studies major from Bainbridge Island, Washington, decided to participate in ACI last summer after hearing a speech by Nardi.

Sumner said last year’s program included lectures as well as “lab work” that included excavation and restoration efforts. “From the lab work, I learned some of the more simple techniques for the conservation and restoration of art works,” Sumner said. “From the lectures, I learned Dottore Nardi’s philosophy on conservation and what a new generation of conservators could do to improve the field.”

The experience caused Sumner to consider making a career out of conservation and art restoration. She decided to apply to ACI again so she can talk more with Nardi and his staff about what how to reach that goal.

Susan Stevens, a classics professor at Randolph, said the program will allow students to gain experience with a wide variety of conservation principles, ranging from broadly applicable practices, such as video documentation, to techniques for specific restoration projects. “With the top-notch team of Italian conservators, archaeologists, trainees and their lab and field projects, ACI students participate in a fascinating profession,” she said.

Greek Play presents war drama in the way theatre was invented

Randolph College students are prepared to transport audiences 2,500 years into the past to experience a war drama as an original Greek audience may have seen it.

Seven Against Thebes, the 2012 Greek Play, will be performed Friday–Sunday, Oct. 5–7, at 4 p.m. In this play by Aeschylus, the sons of the Greek tragic hero Oedipus go to war against each other. The citizens of the besieged city Thebes fear the fate that might meet their city and its leader as, one by one, generals are sent to stop the invading army at each of the city’s seven gates. The Randolph actors will perform the play using original practices—including theatrical masks that amplify their voices; song and dance; and an outdoor theatre much like those used in ancient Greece.

The cast of Seven Against Thebes rehearses in the campus chapel. The performances,
beginning Oct. 5, are in the Mabel Whiteside Greek Theatre (The Dell.)

“You should come see our play for the reasons you should go see any play—to be involved and be entertained,” said Amy Cohen, the play’s director and a Randolph classics professor. “You should see a play in the way that the people who invented western drama did it. You get to be a Greek audience for a day in our beautiful theatre.”

The biannual Greek Play is a treasured tradition at Randolph College. Mabel Whiteside, who taught Latin and Greek at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College for 50 years, started producing Greek plays with her students. The College revived the tradition 12 years ago. Now a part of the College’s new Center for Ancient Drama, the play is held during the Ancient Drama in Performance conference at the College.

Karen Rose ’13 shows off the mask she wears in Seven Against
Thebes in the outdoor theatre that hosts the Greek Play.

Seven Against Thebes tells the story of a war between Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus who disagree on how to share power over the city of Thebes. Polynices brings an army against the city to seize control. Eteocles, played by Claudia Troyer ‘14, sends generals to defend each of the city’s gates. When Polynices himself leads a group of warriors at the seventh gate, Eteocles goes to lead the defense.

“It’s a short, sharp play,” Cohen said. “It is about patriotism, how you engage patriotism, and what it means to fight for your country—but also what the consequences of that are.”

“From the perspective of this play, and the way the audience is involved in this play, we want Thebes to win,” Cohen said. “Thebes does win, but there’s a price.”

Preservation and restoration summer programs give student a peek into career possibilities

The past two summers have allowed Monica Varner ’14 to hold history in her hands—and to make sure future generations can do the same.

Varner has traveled twice to Italy to help restore Roman paintings and artifacts. This summer, she spent eight weeks working on conservation on a historic island off the Massachusetts coast. The hands-on experience with archeology and art history opened a new world for her, she said.

Monica Varner ’14, right, spent her summer working on restoration and conservation
projects in Italy and in Massachusetts through programs connected to Randolph.

“There are these fields which I had no idea existed before I came to Randolph,” said Varner, who is from Northern Virginia. “Art history usually consists of sitting in a class and looking at a PowerPoint presentation, but in these programs, I have been fixing art, sorting it, and putting it back together.”

In 2011, she participated in the inaugural Archeological Conservation Institute, a program that the Centro di Conservazione Archeologica (Center for Archaeological Conservation) and the renowned conservationist Roberto Nardi launched in collaboration with Randolph’s classics department. Varner and five other students helped sort through rubble in a Roman villa, relaying a floor mosaic and repairing a fresco painting.

This year, Varner and six other Randolph students participated in the program, continuing the restoration work. Varner took advantage of the College’s RISE program to help pay for the experience this year.

After returning to the United States, Varner traveled to Massachusetts for Preservation Institute: Nantucket. This program run by the University of Florida lets students assist in restoration and preservation projects in one of America’s oldest settlements. This year, Varner and Laura Shearer ’12, a recent Randolph graduate, participated in the institute. Varner’s involvement was funded through an internship provided by A.J. Land and Lynne Coppage Land ’60, who pay for a current Randolph student to attend the program each year.

The RISE program and the alumna-funded preservation internship let Varner pursue interests that might have escaped her otherwise. “I'm so grateful that we have an alumna that is willing to support that scholarship every year, allowing me to come, not worry about paying for it, and be able to learn,” she said.


In the first few weeks in Nantucket, Varner and other students listened to seminars by various scholars, who gave them insight into the activities and goals of professional archeologists and conservationists. Then, Varner was paired with another student for a research project in a historic home.

“Our main goal was to extensively catalog the 54 windows and exterior doors of the Boston-Higginbotham House, which is a 240-year-old home in the historically black area of Nantucket,” Varner said. She and her research partner drew each of the windows and doors, analyzed paint samples, and made recommendations for the home’s restoration and repair.

The Preservation Institute added to the knowledge and experience Varner had gained in Italy and helped her solidify thoughts about her future studies and career. She plans to pursue graduate studies in art history and conservation.

Randolph students restore Roman artifacts in Italy

A group of Randolph students is currently in Italy restoring ancient Roman artifacts with the Centro di Conservazione Archeologica (CCA).

What exactly do students DO on this trip? Watch and find out in this video from Roberto Nardi of the CCA.

In its second year, the two week Archaeological Conservation Institute is a collaboration between the CCA and Randolph College. Conservator Roberto Nardi and his staff lead the students on a series of lectures, discussions and site visits, emphasizing hands-on experience in conservation and methods of Roman painting, opus sectile and stucco.

Classics professor Susan Stevens organized the program with Nardi after he visited Randolph two years ago. In addition to working in CCA’s laboratories, participants get to experience a bit of Italian culture including wine tasting, pasta making, and olive oil production.

• Read more about the 2011 trip in Randolph Magazine...
• VIDEO: 2011 Italy Trip (above)

2012 Participants

• Stormy Clowdis '13
• Catherine DeSilvey '13
• Meredith Dougherty '15
• Melissa Halka '14
• Claire Sumner '15
• Kathleen Taylor '15
• Monica Varner '14

2011 Participants

• Catherine DeSilvey '13
• Tierney Dickinson '14
• Rhiannon Knol '11
• Gage Stuntz '13
• Monica Varner '14
• Lindsay Wood '11

Randolph College Publishes Ancient Performance Journal

Randolph College is the new host and publisher of the journal Didaskalia, the Journal for Ancient Performance.

Founded in 1994, Didaskalia is the third oldest online classics journal. It features scholarship on all aspects of Greek and Roman performance -- drama, poetry, music, and dance -- both in its original context and as it is performed today.

In relaunching the journal and embarking on its first publishing endeavor, Randolph is building on the work on ancient drama already being done at the college. The Mabel K. Whiteside Greek Theatre hosts the biannual Greek Play and the accompanying conference on ancient drama in performance.

Amy R. Cohen, the director of the Greek Play and associate professor of classics, is Didaskalia's new editor-in-chief, and Jay Kardan, research adjunct in classics, is assistant editor. Gage Stuntz '13, is serving as the journal's first student intern.

The journal features scholarly articles on ancient performance, as well as features, interviews, and reviews about modern productions.

Read Didaskalia online at www.didaskalia.net

Photo Album: The Greek Play presents Hecuba

2010 Thayer Lecture: Theater of War

Bryan Doerries will present "The Theater of War: Greek Tragedies for Combat Veterans", the 2010 Philip Thayer Memorial Lecture, on March 1 in the Smith Hall Auditorium at Randolph College.

Doerries is a New York-based writer, translator, director, and educator. He is the founder of Theater of War, a project that presents readings of ancient Greek plays to service members, veterans, caregivers and families as a catalyst for town hall discussions about the challenges faced by combat veterans today.

During the past year, Doerries has directed film and stage actors such as Paul Giamatti, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor, Michael Ealy, and Jesse Eisenberg in readings of his translations of Sophocles’ “Ajax and Philoctetes” for the U.S. Marine Corps, West Point cadets, homeless veterans, the Department of Defense, and many other military communities.

His other recent theatrical projects include “Prometheus in Prison,” which presents Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound” to corrections professionals to engage them in conversations about custody and reentry, and “End of Life,” which presents Sophocles’ “Women of Trachis” to palliative care and hospice workers to engage them in dialogue with other medical professionals about medical ethics and pain management.

In addition to his work in the theater, Doerries serves as program adviser for the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers and lectures on his work.

Visit the Theater of War web site > > >

Classics Professor Amy Cohen Wins Davidson Award

Professor recognized for bringing distinction to Randolph College.

Associate Professor of Classics Amy Cohen

Associate Professor of Classics Amy Cohen is the 2009-10 recipient of the Katherine Graves Davidson Award.

The honor was announced during Randolph College's Convocation ceremony on September 1, 2009.

The award is given annually to a full-time member of the Randolph faculty who has been outstanding in bringing distinction to the College.

In presenting the award, Dennis Stevens, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, praised Cohen for "her passion and energy" in producing the Greek Play as well as her dedication to teaching and contributions to campus culture and social life.

During the summer of 2009, Cohen took a group of students to Greece to perform the centennial edition of the Greek Play, "Alcestis," in a classic Athens amphitheatre.

Learn more about the Greek Play...

• http://greekplay.randolphblogs.net
• http://www.thegreekplay.com