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.

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.”

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