Despite the limitations of COVID-19, the CHS continues to recognize and support artists in all media whose work engages with ancient Greek culture. Over the next six months, the CHS will share profiles of the 2020-2021 cohort of CHS visiting artists.
Marios Panagiotou works as an actor/performer, director, and facilitator in Αthens. Having graduated from the School of Philosophy – Department of Philology (Division of Theater-Cinema Studies and Musicology) at the University of Crete in Rethymnon, he returned to Athens. Over the past 13 years he has worked as an actor/performer alongside diverse groups of artists, participating in more than 20 productions for the most significant institutions in Greece, such as the National Theatre, the Athens and Epidaurus Festival, the Onassis Cultural Centre, and more. In 2018 he earned the “Queer Performance of the Year” prize at the Queer Theatre Awards for his stage directing of Jon Brittain’s Rotterdam, a play about gender, sexuality, and acceptance. As a director, facilitator, and performance workshop leader he has taken the reins of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences Theatre Group, working with students aged 18-24 and directing both classic and contemporary plays.
His project “Alcestis – the female Lazarus” is based on his personal research and work in progress on Euripides’ play. Is it a tragedy about dying on stage or a comedy about being mortal? A body that breathes on stage is nothing more than the minimum example of life, whereas a body that dies on stage is nothing more than the maximum example of mortality. Although the theatrical illusion is taken for granted, a theatrical ‘death’ hides a riskiness: to reveal to the audience their own completely personal mortality. Starting with his childhood memories and stimuli, his directing view attempts to illuminate the notion of mortality, the finite and undesirable character of the human existence. Furthermore, the myth of Alcestis parallels the Christian myth of Saint Lazarus and his resurrection. Τhe traditional cultures that are reflected in different places in Greece through specific rituals and ceremonies constitute the research and inspiration for a future play of Alcestis starring children and teenagers.