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The Agora of the APA: News and Events
What is an "agora" (other than a common name for Greek restaurants in America), and why should we call this page by this name? The Perseus Project defines it thus:    Photo source: The Perseus Project A large, open public space which served as a place for assembly of the citizens and, hence, the political, civic, religious and commercial center of a Greek city. Buildings for all of these various purposes were constructed as needed in and around the agora. Formal layout of the agora was developed in the Hellenistic period. The Greek agora is the predecessor of the fora of imperial Rome.   These sites should prove interesting and useful to anyone interested in what the Classical Greek and Roman world has to say to modern America. Please note that clicking on these links will launch a new browser window. More listings can be found at the On-line Resources page. last updated 5 May 2008 Events | In the News | Web Sites of Note Events: What's Current in Classics? Classics podcasts! Oedipus at FDR (Philadelphia, September) Cumming to Play Greek God in Bacchae at Lincoln Center Festival American Repertory Theater (Cambridge, Mass) announces TROJAN BARBIE - World Premiere    March 28-April 9, 2009 by Christine Evans - directed by Carmel O'Reilly "There is no life in another country. You'll always be a foreigner, stuck on the wrong side of the looking-glass." - Trojan Barbie Lotte Jones, a doll repair expert, needs a vacation. She books herself on a cultural tour for singles and travels with them to modern-day Troy, where she finds more of a change of scene than she'd bargained for - in the midst of an attack by the Greek army threatening to destroy the last fragments of a mighty civilization. Part contemporary drama, part homage to Euripides' Trojan Women, Trojan Barbie tells the perpetually moving tale of Priam's widow, Hecuba, and her defenseless family, recast against the vivid reality of modern warfare.  Poetic, compassionate, and tinged with great warmth and humor, Trojan Barbie is an epic war story with a most unlikely heroine, who always looks on the bright side even as past and present collide about her.  Carmel O'Reilly, director of Sugan Theatre's St. Nicholas that A.R.T. presented in 2000, joins the Company for the first time to direct this imaginative work. Greek tragedy Agamemnon to appear on the Gallaudet stage NEXT YEAR AT THE CLASSICAL GREEK THEATRE FESTIVAL               In the autumn of 2008 The Classical Greek Theatre Festival of Utah will mount and tour a production of Euripides’monumental tragedy Medea. Driven by the complex character of its heroine, the plot follows Medea’s decision for and plotting of revenge against her husband Jason. Medea is at once woman, barbarian, witch,  hero  and “other” as well as being Greek and a symbol of Athens herself. Motivated by rage, honor, pride and maternal love,  Medea proves a stunning example of the “divided wo/man,” and her rational and emotional monologues probe the challenges of being wife, mother and human. No gods meddle with this tragic action, and the audience remains riveted on the powerful forces at work within Medea and on the fate of her children, who wander silently on and off the stage.             Using a modern American translation as acting script, this CGTF production will be directed by Professor Sandra Shotwell and feature actors from the University of Utah’s acclaimed Actor Training Program. The show will also feature a strong visual design by professional designers and original music and choreography created for the production. Performances will take place in Salt Lake City September 20, 21, 27 and 28 at 9:00am at an outdoor venue TBA and be followed by a tour of Utah and New Mexico.  Upcoming productions at Stratford in Ontario and Opera Atelier in Toronto of productions with a classical interest: Stratford's website is http://www.stratford-festival.on.ca/ Opera Atelier is doing Mozart's Idomeneo Apr. 26-May 3, 2008; website http://www.operaatelier.com/ The Trojan Women, by Euripides In a new translation by Nicholas Rudall Previews begin: May 14 Opens: May 30 Closes Oct 5 Caesar and Cleopatra By George Bernard Shaw Previews begin: Aug 7 Opens: Aug 17 Closes: Nov 9 *This production contains mature themes and nudity* At the National Symphony: DAUGHERTY - TROYJAM for Orchestra and Narrator with a libretto by Anne Carson THE THEATRE, INC A New Classical Theatre Company Announces Its Selections for 2007-08 Season For further information, or to subscribe, contact the The Theatre, Inc. at (619) 216-3016 or e-mail at thetheatreinc@yahoo.com or on-line soon at www.thetheatreinc.com THE FROGS by Aristophanes translated by Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton. The Frogs opens November 2 closes November 17, 2007. Plays Friday and Saturday at 8pm. Ticket Prices: $15-$20. HELEN by Euripides translated by Marianne McDonald. Helen opens May 8 closes June 1, 2008. Plays Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. Ticket Prices: $20-$25. "Mary Zimmerman's "Argonautika: The Voyage of Jason and the Argonauts" wins a Jeff award for new adaptation. Originally produced at the Chicago's Lookingglass Theater, "Argonautika" will be staged again at New Jersey's McCarter Theater in March." The Jeff Awards are the Chicago equivalent of the Tonys. Quite prestigious in theater circles. The Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance maintains an e-mail list of current members, to which postings are made regarding events, especially performances, calls for papers, conferences and other announcements that may be of interest to the membership. This publication is called The Dionysiac. To subscribe to the list or to post an announcement, contact the listowner, Hallie Marshall halliem@interchange.ubc.ca. Access the current (Fall 2007) newsletter here. In the News!!The web editor actively maintains the news listings so that he eliminates any article that becomes no longer available for free. The Washington Post: Correcting a Colorblind View of the Treasures of Antiquity Herodotus and Thucydides in the New Yorker Philadelphia Inquirer: Greece and Rome still alive for Jr. Classical League A new outreach effort in the UK NY Times: Beware of Greeks Bearing Placards Aristotle joins pantheon of ancients at Athens Square (NY) NY Times: Past Catches Up With the Queen of Roads NY Times: The Ancient Mechanics and How They Thought Robert Fagles, celebrated translator of ancient epics, dies at age 74 Philadelphia Inquirer: Argonautika a lively update of Jason myth Gloucester Daily Times: 'Oedipus' next Theater company stages rare version of classic tragedy' (Seneca, not Sophocles) Theater Review | 'Medea': Taking Hostages to Right a Wrong The Key Reporter on 'The Philoctetes Project' (PDF) The fishing classicist Philadelphia Inquirer. Penn Classicist Emily Wilson: Before idealizing democracy, beware the Athenian lesson In Wisconsin: It's all Greek to us - Election dramas also take stage Philadelphia Inquirer: A tradition not so well understood after all (Classics professor Mary Beard marshals evidence like a good forensic specialist out to solve a crime...) Petaluma Argus-Courier: Valuable advice from Roman emperor: St. Vincent teacher John Piazza co-authors new book on Marcus Aurelius Rutledge inmates study Greek to get a better grip on the Bible NY Times: An Altar Beyond Olympus for a Deity Predating Zeus NY Times: Amo, Amas, Amuse (a review of Harry Mount's Carpe Diem) Secrets of the Parthenon, on PBS Breathing life into Latin, a profile of Monmouth-Roseville High School Latin teacher Brian Tibbets How Do I Love Thee? Say it in Latin! BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Reviving a 'dead' language WSJ: An Epic Undertaking: The influence and resonance of Virgil's 'Aeneid' still echo New BBC Radio Series on Greek and Latin Authors Penn classicist Emily Wilson in Slate: The Renaissance of Latin: WHY A DEAD LANGUAGE IS BECOMING POPULAR. LA Times: Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin,' by Nicholas Ostler NY Sun: Not the Roman, but the Latin Empire Penn Classics featured in the Philadelphia Metro NY Times: Herodotus Now: ‘Omnivorous Curiosity’ and Double Vision The Boston Globe: Greek tragedy blooms anew in tales of four troubled lives The Washington Post: The Passion of Latin Lovers. "When Virginia's all-star team of young scholars competes in a national quiz bowl, a dead language is very much alive..." NY Times: A Vote for Latin and a Latin version of the same piece! NY Times: Cave May Hold Secrets to Legend of Ancient Rome NY Times: Theater Review Philoktetes: Chill, Warrior Outcast, the Gods Are With You What can one do with a Classics major... An all-boys school with an unusual Latin focus: Dead language comes alive at W. Phila. charter NY Times: A Daughter’s Revenge Is on the Menu, So Expect a Meal Served Bitter Cold WSJ: Veni, Vidi, Wiki:Latin Isn't Dead On 'Vicipaedia' The Washington Post has a story about an award-winning physician who owes it all to classics Hans Werner Henze's new tragic opera 'Phaedra' compels Iphigenia 2.0: Way Before Lindsay and Britney, Chaos Swirled Around Iphigenia and another view Rowling poised to work her magic on classic tale of underworld hero Desperate housewife: Margaret Atwood's all-female play The Penelopiad twists the Odysseus myth Women in ancient Greek drama: Theorists and practitioners at Delphi approach the subject from every conceivable direction A twist on a Greek tragedy: Insomniak Theatre puts a modern spin on Oedipus Rex NY Times on a new Eurydice: The Power of Memory to Triumph Over Death NY Times: Checking In With Glimmer Twins, Plato and Aristotle On the misuse of the word 'subjunctive..." NY Times: More Clues in the Legend (or Is It Fact?) of Romulus Wired: Robot Scans Ancient Manuscript in 3-D Salon:"Are We Rome?" Hollowed out by arrogance, corruption and a bloated military, the greatest empire the world has ever known fell. Is America doomed to follow in its footsteps? NY Times: "Burritos for Sophocles" Vivat longe Schola Latina Brookliniensis! The Village Voice: Note to Greek husbands: Killing child not best idea NY Times: A Voyage to Olympus for Young Mortals In the Poconos Notre Dame High successfully revives 'dead' Latin Seattle Weekly reviews two Greek plays Smithsonian Magazine: Raising Alexandria DNA Boosts Herodotus’ Account of Etruscans as Migrants to Italy A 300 review by classicists Victor Hanson (relatively positive) and Eugene Borza (negative) OWU’s Don Lateiner is Spell-Binding! Classicist Richard Martin in the NY Sun on Glenn Most's new Loeb Hesiod Howard's Unyielding Intellectual (The Washington Post obituary article on Frank Snowden and another in the NY Times ) 300, reviewed by The NY Times and The Washington Post (neither, alas, is a rave) The Difficult Patient, a Problem Old as History: A play by Sophocles holds lessons for modern medicine. Michele Ronnick was interviewed at length by an Austin, TX TV station when her 12 Black Classicists display was on exhibit at a local college. Professor Ronnickwon the APA Outreach Prize in 2006 Theater Review | 'The Oresteia': Finding Humor, and Blood, in a Classic Greek Tragedy "David Johnston’s new retelling of Aeschylus’ “Oresteia” which includes some of his trademark off-kilter sensibility but none of his familiar flights of fancy." Eve Sussman’s film “The Rape of the Sabine Women” is extravagantly beautiful, writes Roberta Smith in The NY Times . Review: The Women of Trachis in NYC The Virginian-Pilot: Dead language comes alive at Beach school NY Times Art Review: 'Athens-Sparta' Their Rivalry Was Bitter, Yet Beauty Still Emerged A broadcast from New Hampshire Public Radio on teaching Plato's Republic in a Women's Prison The NY Times' Edward Rothstein on the Aeneid At a Bronx School, Latin Is the Root of All Learning An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists The NY Times "A Layered Look Reveals Ancient Greek Texts" The NY Times on the new movie about Thermopylae, 300 The Boston Globe has its turn commenting on the new Aeneid. "The Emperor's New Poem: The latest translation of Virgil's 'Aeneid,' the epic poem of Rome's founding commissioned by Augustus Caesar, has a timely resonance at this moment of American imperial angst..." Web Sites of Note eLatin eGreek eLearn Rogueclassicism Didaskalia-APA Listings and reviews of drama performances Able Media's CTCWEB Showcase of outstanding uses of technology in Classics pedagogy. Diotima: Women and Gender in the Ancient World provides many insights into one of the most stimulating areas of recent scholarship on the ancient world. The Interactive Mediterranean Project: an on-line atlas of the ancient Mediterranean world Perseus is, arguably, the most important web site for studying Greek and Roman culture. Perseus contains thousands of images, texts and maps, aided by powerful search tools. The Stoa: A consortium of electronic publication in the humanities. A site devoted to bringing the scholarly study of classical antiquity to a wider audience. The Stoa will contain on-line books and other materials. Home