Presents
Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives: Poetry-Drama-Dialogue
A National Conversation
April 21, 2012 / 2:00 pm / Big Meeting Room /
Athens Public Library / 30 Home Street / Athens, Ohio / 45701
Aeschylus, Agamemnon. “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia.”
Lines 104-159; 184-255.
(Oresteia by Aeschylus, translated with notes by Peter Meineck, and introduction by Helene P. Foley. Hackett: Indianapolis & Cambridge, MA, 2007. Performed by permission of the publisher.)
Sophocles, Ajax. “The Countless Course of Time.”
Lines 411-480; 815-865.
(Four Tragedies by Sophocles, translated with introduction and notes by Peter Meineck and Paul Woodruff. Hackett: Indianapolis & Cambridge, MA, 2007. Performed by permission of the publisher.)
Euripides, Herakles. “The Messenger.”
Lines 911-1015.
(Adapted from Robert Emmet Meagher, Herakles Gone Mad: Rethinking Heroism in an Age of Endless War. Olive Branch Press, an imprint of Interlink Publishing Group, Inc.: Northampton, MA, © Robert Emmet Meagher, 2006. Performed by permission.)
Homer, Odyssey. “The Great Rooted Bed.”
Book 23: Lines 170-328.
(The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles, with introduction and notes by Bernard Knox. Penguin Classics: London & New York, 1996. Performed by permission of the publisher.)
THIS PERFORMANCE IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
CAST
Peter Meineck (Artistic Director) founded Aquila in 1991 and has directed and/or produced over 50 productions in NY, London and internationally in venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the ancient Stadium at Delphi, Lincoln Center and the White House, including Shakespeare’s As You Like It, The Comedy of Errors, Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, King Lear, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest; Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest; Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus and Ajax; Aeschylus’ Agamemnon; and Aristophanes’ Wasps, Clouds, Frogs and Birds. Recent directorial projects include Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, Homer’s The Iliad: Book One and Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. He has also written several literary adaptations for the stage including Catch-22, The Man Who Would Be King, Canterbury Tales and The Invisible Man. Peter has published several volumes of translations of Greek plays including Aeschylus’ Oresteia which won the Lewis Galantiere Award for Literary Translation from the American Translators Association; Sophocles’ Theban Plays (with Paul Woodruff), Philoctetes and Ajax; and Aristophanes’ Clouds, Wasps & Birds. He is a regular contributor to Arion: A Journal of Humanities and The Classics, and is director of the National Endowment for the Humanities/Aquila Theatre Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives program. He has held teaching posts at Princeton and USC, was a fellow at the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, and is currently Clinical Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Studies at New York University. Peter is currently working on a book on the visual dimension of ancient drama.
Richard Brundage is delighted to join Aquila in this amazing project. Favorite roles… in NYC: Astrov (UNCLE VANYA), Falstaff (HENRY IV Parts 1-2), Malvolio (TWELFTH NIGHT), Antonio (THE TEMPEST). Regional: Owen Musser in THE FOREIGNER New Harmony, Indiana), Passepartout in AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS and Frank in EDUCATING RITA and Louis in SHIPWRECKED (Winnipesaukee Playhouse, NH), Michael in TWO ROOMS (Arena Players, Long Island), Herbie in GYPSY (Fort Salem, NY). Also a busy film actor, Richard recently shot his fourth leading role in a feature-length film, a sci-fi spoof called RIPPED, now in post-production. His previous big indie roles were in the
multi-award-winning YOU ARE ALONE and FOURHAND (both available on DVD), and CREATIVE NONFICTION, with his friend Lena Dunham (director/star of HBO’s new show “GIRLS”).
Jeffrey Golde is a founding member of Beyond Theatre Ensemble. Most recently was seen in Arthur Miller’s “The American Clock.” He has performed Off-Broadway in Aquila Theatre’s “The Iliad” (Lucile Lortel) and in “Homer’s Odyssey”. He has toured nationally in “Comedy of Errors” and “The Iliad” and played Romeo for them. Regionally he has performed with the Shakespeare Theatre Company (DC). He is a graduate of both Face Off University and Drama Studio London.
Katherine McDowell has graced the stages of London, New York, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. She is grateful to be working with the Aquila Theatre on this wonderful project. Favorite roles include Catherine in Proof, Vivie in Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Julia in Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Miranda in the Collector. She received her primary training at New York University through the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, graduating with a BFA in Theatre with Honors. She also holds an MA in Text and Performance from King’s College London, UK in conjunction with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Thanks to her family and friends for all their support and the universe for making all things possible.
MODERATOR
James Andrews, Ohio University, is Associate Professor of Classics at Ohio University and has taught Greek, Latin, Greek myth and classical literature to undergraduates for over two decades. He has published scholarly articles on Thucydides, Athenian democracy and imperialism, and ancient rhetoric, and is currently finishing a book-length manuscript on Plato’s Protagoras. He has enjoyed participating in public discussions of Greek literature, with young and old, in public libraries and elsewhere. He holds his Ph.D. in Classics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Five Books Interviews
The department would like to announce that the requirements for the Classical Civilization major have changed. Students are no longer required to take two years in Greek or Latin to fulfill the language requirement; instead, any foreign language approved by the College of Arts and Sciences can be used.