UNA presents classic Greek tragedies October 31, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas.Tags: Greece, Hellenic Light, Theater, USA, Sophocles, Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannus, UNA Communications and Theater Department
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Have you ever wanted to just…kill your dad? Maybe sneak out in the dead of night and strew dirt on your brother’s rotting corpse? > In the first weeks of November, the UNA Communications and Theater Department will give you the opportunity to live out those fantasies vicariously.
The Department will be presenting two Greek tragedies by Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus and Antigone. Both plays take place in the ancient city of Thebes, with characters whose lives intermingle between plays. Although the plays are well-known, we will refrain from spoiling the endings, for those who may have not experienced them.
Oedipus Tyrannus is the tale of a man fated by prophecy to kill his father and wed his mother. Fearing this prophecy, Oedipus’s parents King Laius and Queen Jocasta pin the infant’s feet together and order a shepherd to kill him. Through the mercy of two shepherds, the infant Oedipus ultimately ends up as the adopted child of the King and Queen of Corinth. Thus, the child lives to possibly fulfill the unfortunate prophecy.
Antigone begins with the deaths of Polynices and Eteocles, Antigone and Ismene’s brothers. Creon, the new King of Thebes, refuses to bury Polynices, forcing Antigone to bury him against imperial orders. Creon orders the execution of Antigone, who is, coincidentally, the fiancée of Creon’s son, Haemon. Haemon’s pleas to spare Antigone’s life go unheard by the stubborn king, and she is set to be entombed alive.
Oedipus Tyrannus will be showing on the 1st, 3rd, and 8th of November while Antigone will be showing on the 2nd, 7th, and 9th of November.
The cast of Oedipus Tyrannus includes: Mark Hampton (Oedipus), Claire Guillot (Jocasta), Michael Dailey (Creon), Michael Baldwin (Tiresias), Andrew Maxwell (Messenger), Leslie Peterson (Eurydice), Daniel Hobbs(Corinthian), (Shepherd), Matt Mallard, Brittney James, Meredith Carr, Laura Ann Williams, and Shalonda Hampton (Chorus).
The cast of Antigone is as follows: Kristen Barnhill (Antigone), Jessica Pitts (Ismene), Charlton James (Creon), Brian Johnson (Calcus Chavis), Duell Aldridge (Watchman), Michael Baldwin (Tiresias), Eric Herron (Haemon), Andrew Maxwell (Messenger), Leslie Peterson (Eurydice), Amy Loggins, Amy Jarnigan, Jessica Shane, and Chelsea Hughes (Chorus).
Oedipus Tyrannus is directed by UNA theater professor Dr. David Ruebhausen. Antigone is directed by UNA communications professor Angela Green. The box office opens at 6:30 and the plays begin at 7:30 on corresonding days.
Greek myths in the stars October 31, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas.Tags: Hellenic Light, Greek Mythology, USA, University of Southern Maine, Hellenic Initiatives Program, Hellenic Society of Maine, Portland
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The University of Southern Maine Hellenic Initiatives program and the Hellenic Society of Maine, Portland, will present a planetarium show, “Greek and Roman Mythology in the Night Sky,” Sunday, November 4.
During the one-hour show, viewers will learn about the stories, legends and lore of the stars, planets and constellations as they relate to ancient Greek and Roman myths.
Did you know that when Perseus slew the gorgon Medusa, Pegasus arose from her blood? That Bellopheron tamed Pegasus and slew the Chimera? Why Queen Cassiopeia’s brag became adesperate problem for her daughter, Andromeda’s? Or that Orion pursued Atlas’s daughters, The Pleiades, The Seven Sisters, and still does?
The benefit show will begin at 4:15 p.m. in USM’s Southworth Planetarium. Located in the science building, the planetarium entrance is on Falmouth Street on the USM Portland campus. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for seniors and children under 12. For reservations, call 780-5025.
UT students take on timeless Greek tragedy October 31, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas.Tags: Hellenic Light, Theater, USA, Sophocles, University of Tennessee, Clarence Brown Lab Theater, Antigone
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Where does one’s duty lie: with the state or with a higher power? > And who is the patriot, the one who pays blind obedience to the law of the land, or the one who protests against those in power to bring about righteous change?
Yes, it’s time again for the ageless issues presented in a classic play to mirror our current times. This time, the play is the Greek tragedy “Antigone,” opening Thursday, November 1, and continuing through November 11 at the University of Tennessee’s Clarence Brown Lab Theatre.
But over the last two seasons, the University of Tennessee theater has presented such plays as “Born Yesterday,” “All Our Sons” and this season’s “Major Barbara” whose themes, political corruption, war profiteering, and the role of religion in politics and war, are so universal as to be eerily relevant to current issues.
“Antigone” is a tragedy by Sophocles, written around 442 B.C. It’s based on the myth of Antigone, who defies Creon, the King of Thebes and her uncle. Antigone’s brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, had agreed to share the throne following the abdication of their father, Oedipus. They are to take turns ruling, but Eteocles goes first and then refuses to give up the throne. Polyneices wages war against his brother, and both die at each other’s hands. Because he fought against Thebes, Creon decrees that Polyneices will remain unburied and denied the proper burial rites, while the duplicitous Eteocles is given a hero’s burial.
Antigone believes Creon’s decision to be against the will of the gods. She vows to bury Polyneices herself. After she is caught with the body, the King condemns Antigone to death. She is sealed in a cave to starve to death. A prophet’s prediction that will be pay “corpse for corpse, and flesh for flesh” changes Creon’s mind. But it is too late. Antigone has committed suicide, and her death sets off a chain reaction that robs the king of his own family.
UT’s modern-dress production uses a translation by the French dramatist Jean Anouilh, which debuted in 1944 during the Nazi occupation of France. He used the play as an allegorical criticism of his countrymen who collaborated with the Nazis.
“Antigone” is part of the Studio Series at the Clarence Brown Theatre. The actors and designers for the production are all students in the theater department’s professional training program. The cast is Tina Arfaee, Patrick Bibb, Seth Crowe, Ash Edwards, Lauren Pennline, Jim Eernisse, Christen Gee, Adam Heffernan, Mark Jennings, Rachel Winfrey, Kelley Kee, Mitch Miller and Matt Lyscas. The production-design team is Morgan Matens (scenic design), Amy Xiques (costume design) and Catherine Girardi (lighting design).
The director is Kate Buckley, a new assistant professor of theater and directing at UT. She is a founding member of the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, was artistic director of The Next Theatre in Chicago, and has directed for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Goodman Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, the Utah Shakespeare Festival and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre.
‘ANTIGONE’ > UT’s Clarence Brown Lab Theatre, 7:30p.m.Thursday-Friday, November 1-2, Sunday, November 4,Tuesday-Friday, November 6-9; matinees at 2p.m. Sunday, November 4 and 11. Tickets: $10, $5 for students, at Tickets Unlimited outlets(865-656-4444) and the Clarence Brown Theatre box office (865-974-5161).
“Anasa” means “breath” in Greek October 21, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas.Tags: Greece, Greek Mythology, Greek History, USA, Greek Culture, Chicago, Thodos Dance Chicago Company
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“Anasa” means “breath” in Greek. It also is the title of choreographer Melissa Thodos’ new work for her company, Thodos Dance Chicago, which is performing its fall concert at 8 Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Athenaeum Theatre, 2936 N. Southport.
Thodos herself is a first-generation Greek-American, the daughter of a father born in a small town south of Olympus and a mother who grew up not far from the Albanian border.
As she explained: “Among the mythic figures I’ve drawn on for this piece are Athena, originally goddess of heroic endeavors and later goddess of wisdom; Aphrodite, goddess of love; Metis, the titan goddess of good counsel, and an ocean nymph, and Atlanta, who was abandoned and saved. What intrigued me was both the community of these women and the individuality of women throughout Greek history. I was influenced by the wars of ancient times, and the fires of very recent times. I also studied the imagery on ancient Greek vases.”
Also on the program will be “Lullaby,” an enchanting new work by Lucas Crandall, associate director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, that is set to Bach; Lar Lubovitch’s “Waiting for the Sunrise”; Shapiro & Smith’s “Dance with Two Army Blankets,” and works by Brock Clawson, Jessica Miller Tomlinson and Stephanie Hilton. Tickets: (312) 902-1500.
Cycladic Art > a bronze age beauty on display in USA October 21, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Archaeology, Hellenic Light Americas.Tags: Greece, Archaeology, Hellenic Light, USA, Cyclades islands, Kimbell Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cycladic Art
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A Female Figure, 16 1/4 inches X 55/8 inches, attributed to the Bastis Master, in display at the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, USA.
The particular female figure has that mid-century modern look of stripped-to-the-bones attenuation with only the barest suggestion of features, except for a very prominent nose. On first glance, it’s almost impossible to think of her as antique, but she is very, very old. She’s a Bronze Age beauty, created circa 2500-2300 B.C.
Works like this were found in burial sites in Greece’s Cyclades islands, but their function is unknown. “Bastis”, by the way, was not the name of the actual artist, it’s the surname of a donor who gave a similar sculpture to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Electrifying ‘Electra’ is a gift from Greece October 14, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas.Tags: Greece, Greek Drama, Hellenic Light, USA, New York, National Theater of Greece, Electra, Sophocles
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So this is a Greek chorus: 15 pretty young women with dark hair dressed in white, singing hauntingly close harmonies and declaiming unison lines, circling the stage in sympathy or contrast with the leads.
American audiences don’t typically see casts this large outside a high school auditorium. Nor do we typically get the chance to see actual Greeks performing a Greek tragedy, as they do in the National Theatre of Greece’s touring production of Sophocles’ “Electra,” at City Center through Sunday.
There is also the small matter of Peter Stein, the long-renowned German director who has expertly marshaled the forces of this intrepid company, and who here makes his American theatrical debut.
These enticements alone make “Electra” a must-see for certain theatre junkies and culture vultures. The good news for the rest of us is that this “Electra,” performed in contemporary Greek with supertitles, is as wrenchingly accessible, and as freshly strange and shocking, as today’s headlines.
In the title role, Stefania Goulioti makes her entrance crawling from behind a dull silver panel at the back of Dionissis Fotopoulos’ stark, expansive set. Like a slow-motion Hamlet, Electra is several years into a decidedly unhealthy mourning process over her father, Agamemnon, who was slain by her mother, Clytemnestra, and her new lover Aegisthus.
Goulioti plays her as a premature crone, bent over a straw-strewn stage with a tiny broom; she’s like a witch of grief stirring the pot of her sorrows, with the chorus and a more compliant sister Chrysothemis (Kora Karvouni) as her codependent sob sisters.
Clytemnestra (Karyofyllia Karabeti), an altogether different brand of witchy woman, makes a properly grand entrance in a glowing palace doorway. Hips aswivel, she struts onto the stage in a sumptuous green gown to taunt her daughter and to offer a powder-tossing prayer to Apollo.
Indeed, maybe it’s the presence of the chorus or the uniform intensity of the performances, but this is a Greek tragedy in which the ritual and religious aspects have a particularly strong, and not entirely salubrious, presence. Both sides appeal heartily to the same gods, who apparently set them at each other’s throats.
Though it takes its time getting there, “Electra” also ends up being remarkably suspenseful. The plot involves Orestes (Apostolis Totsikas) sneaking back into town after sending out false word of his death via a tutor (Yannis Fertis), who goes beyond the call of duty with a brilliantly detailed and chilling description of a grisly chariot accident.
After a tearful reunion with Electra, Orestes goes about the family vengeance business coolly, while his sister strips and bathes in a kind of sexual ecstasy as she hears her mother’s screams. A final face-off with the unfortunate Aegisthus (Lazaros Georgakopoulos) is milked for all its indirection, suspicion and tension, not a small feat in the midst of so much tragic inevitability.
This is typical of this production’s achievement, which manages to find a startlingly wide range within tragedy’s native minor key.
ELECTRA. Written by Sophocles. Directed by Peter Stein. Presented by the National Theatre of Greece. Through Sunday at City Center, 130 W. 56th St., Manhattan. For tickets call 212-581-1212.
‘Migration in Greek Cinema: 1956-2006’ to be screened at Yale, Chicago and Toronto October 13, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Hellenic Light Americas, MoviesLife, MoviesLife Greek.Tags: Greece, Canada, Movies, Films, Cinema, Thessaloniki Film Festival, USA, Greek Cinema, Greek Film Center, Drama Film Festival, Yale, Chicago, Toronto
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‘The Marbles’ by Alexis Bisticas, to be shown at Yale, Chicago and Toronto with the emblematic ‘As Far as the Boat’ by Alexis Damianos.
The Greek Parliament and the Thessaloniki Film Festival (TFF) are jointly sending abroad the tribute “Migration in Greek Cinema: 1956-2006,” which was made in collaboration with the Greek Film Center.
One major stop will be at Yale, from October 18-21, where TFF Director Despina Mouzaki is giving a lecture on migration to a conference of the Modern Greek Studies Association. The first screening was at Oxford in June.
Next it goes to Chicago, opening October 16, followed by Toronto, October 24-28.
Among the films in the tribute is “The Marbles”, the first short film by Alexis Bisticas (1964-1995), dedicated to Melina Mercouri, on the return of the Parthenon sculptures to the Acropolis Museum. It was prophetic, as the new Acropolis Museum is now ready. When he made the film, which won an award at the Drama Film Festival in 1989 when the director was 25, international opinion was indifferent to the subject, but has since turned in favor of returning the Parthenon marbles.
The other films in the tribute are “Grammata apo tin Ameriki” (Letters from America) by Lakis Papastathis and “Mechri to ploio” (As Far as the Boat) by Alexis Damianos. It is an honor to the filmmaker who died before his time that his film is being screened first.
Related Links > http://www.gfc.gr and http://www.filmfestival.gr
grhomeboy
