In partnership with Out of Chaos Theatre, the Center for Hellenic Studies and the Kosmos Society are presenting Reading Greek Tragedy Online, a series that brings together actors and researchers to perform and discuss scenes from Greek tragedy.
Episodes | Project Background | Outreach | Contributor Biographies
Artistic Director: Paul O’Mahony (Out of Chaos Theatre)
Host and Faculty Consultant: Joel Christensen (Brandeis University)
Executive Producer: Lanah Koelle (Center for Hellenic Studies)
Producers: Keith DeStone (Center for Hellenic Studies), Hélène Emeriaud, Janet Ozsolak, and Sarah Scott (Kosmos Society)
Director of Outreach: Amy Pistone (Gonzaga University)
Dramaturgical Support: Emma Pauly and Emma Joy Hill
Production Assistants: Francesca Bellei (Harvard University) and Henry Schott (Washington University in St. Louis)
Associate Directors: Carlos Bellato, Beth Burns, Liz Fisher, Tabatha Gayle, Laura Keefe, Toph Marshall, and LeeAnet Noble
Poster Designer: Allie Marbry (Center for Hellenic Studies)
Poster Illustration Artist: John Koelle
Episodes [back to top]
Current Season
Electra live and in partner with the University of Illinois Chicago; translation by Anne Carson
Oedipus Tyrannos live at the Center for Hellenic Studies, with David van Schoor and Amy R. Cohen; translation by Oliver Taplin
Amphitruo with Toph Marshall; translation by Toph Marshall
Medea with Angela Hurley; translation by Elena Lu
The Battle Between the Frogs and Mice translation by A. E Stallings.
Previous Episodes
Links to recordings of previous episodes are below. The full playlist is available on YouTube.
Greek Tragedy
Aeschylus
The Danaid Legacy with Charlotte Parkyn (Notre Dame University), directed and adapted by Tabatha Gayle
Oresteia: Agamemnon with Fiona Macintosh (University of Oxford) and Oliver Taplin (University of Oxford); translation by O. Taplin
Oresteia: Libation Bearers (or Women at the Graveside) with Anna Uhlig (University of California, Davis) and Oliver Taplin (University of Oxford); translation by O. Taplin
Oresteia: Eumenides (or Orestes at Athens) with Ellen McLaughlin (Barnard College), Andrew Simpson (Catholic University of America), and Oliver Taplin (University of Oxford); translation by O. Taplin
The Persians with Erika Weiberg (Duke University); translation by I. Johnston
Prometheus Bound Season 1. With Joshua Billings (Princeton University); translation by E. B. Browning
Prometheus Bound Season 4. With Florence Yoon (University of British Columbia)
Seven Against Thebes with Naomi Weiss (Harvard University); translation by I. Johnston
Suppliants with Rebecca Futo Kennedy (Denison University) and Roshni Chakraborty (Harvard University); translation by H. W. Smyth, with revisions by R. F. Kennedy
Sophocles
Ajax with Bruce King (Gallatin School of Individualized Study-New York University); translation by I. Johnston
Antigone Season 1. With James Collins (University of Sydney), Paul Woodruff (The University of Texas at Austin), and participants from the Performing Wisdom Workshop; translation by P. Woodruff, courtesy of Hackett Publishing Company
Antigone Season 4. With Angeliki Tzanetou (University of Illinois); translation by Ian Johnston
Electra with Amy R. Cohen (Randolph College); translation by P. Woodruff, courtesy of Hackett Publishing Company; full reading available as well
Oedipus at Colonus with Laura Slatkin (New York University); translation by Robert Fitzgerald, courtesy of the University of Chicago Press
Oedipus Tyrannus with Efimia Karakantza (University of Patras); translation by R. Jebb, revised by A. Sens, and further revised by G. Nagy
Philoctetes Season 1. With Norman Sandridge (Howard University); translation by R. Jebb
Philoctetes Season 4. With David Elmer (Harvard University) and Naomi Weiss (Harvard University); translation by Ian Johnston
Women of Trachis with Amy Pistone (Gonzaga University); translation by R. Jebb
Euripides
Alcestis with Maria Xanthou (Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies, Princeton University); translation by C. A. E. Luschnig
Andromache with Katerina Ladianou (Center for Hellenic Studies); translation by D. Kovacs
Bacchae Season 1. With Timothy Moore (Washington University of St. Louis); translation by T. A. Buckley, revised by A. Sens, further revised by G. Nagy
Bacchae Season 2. With Emma Cole (University of Bristol); a musical adaptation by J. Landon Marcus and Johanna Warren
Cyclops with Carl Shaw (New College of Florida); adaptation by Chas LiBretto (book), J. Landon Marcus (music and lyrics), and Benjamin Sherman (music)
Electra with Robert Groves (The University of Arizona); translation by I. Johnston
Hecuba with Toph Marshall (University of British Columbia); translation by J. Kardan and L. Gray-Street
Helen Season 1. With Joel Christensen (Brandeis University); translation by E. P. Coleridge, revised by members of Kosmos Society
Helen Season 2. With Lyndsay Coo (University of Bristol), Pria Jackson (Princeton University), and Ria Modak (Harvard University); translation by D. Rayor
Heracleidae with Helene Foley (Columbia University); translation by G. Theodoridis
Herakles with Anne-Sophie Noel (École Normale Supérieure-Lyon); translation by R. Potter, adapted by M. Ebbott and C. Dué
Hippolytus with Eirene Visvardi (Wesleyan University); translation by I. Johnston
Ion Season 1. With Lucia Athanassaki (University of Crete) and Michael Scott (University of Warwick); translation by G. Theodoridis
Ion Season 4. With Nancy Felson (University of Georgia); translation by Cecelia Eaton Luschnig
Iphigenia in Aulis with Mat Carbon (Université de Liège) and theater director Adam Barnard; translation by E. P. Coleridge
Iphigenia in Tauris with Niall Slater (Emory University); translation by C. A. E. Luschnig, courtesy of Hackett Publishing Company
Medea with Fiona Macintosh (University of Oxford); translation by Diane Rayor, courtesy of Cambridge University Press
Orestes with Claire Catenaccio (Georgetown University); translation by I. Johnston
Phoenician Women with Anna Lamari (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki); translation by C. A. E. Luschnig, courtesy of Hackett Publishing Company
Rhesus with Mary Ebbott (College of the Holy Cross); translation by G. Theodoridis
Suppliants with Angeliki Tzanetou (Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); translation by C. A. E. Luschnig, courtesy of Hackett Publishing Company
Trojan Women with Robin Mitchell-Boyask (Temple University); translation by E. P. Coleridge, revised by members of Kosmos Society
Special Editions
An Ancient Cabaret, a musical variety show with recitations and songs from the Iliad, Bacchae, Frogs, and Antigone, and a performance of an ancient comic script (P.Oxy. 5189)
The Chorus with Anna S. Uhlig (University of California, Davis)
Goddess and The Women of Gods, a collection of women’s speeches, with Suzanne Lye (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Jackie Murray (University of Kentucky)
Tragic Fragments with Melissa Funke (University of Winnipeg) and Charlotte Parkyn (University of Notre Dame)
Greek Comedy
Aristophanes
Assemblywomen (or Women in Parliament) with Francisco Barrenechea (University of Maryland, College Park); translation by G. Theodoridis
Clouds with Joel Schlosser (Bryn Mawr College); translation by I. Johnston
Frogs; translation by G. Theodoridis
Roman Drama
Seneca
Thyestes with Helen Slaney (La Trobe University); translation by P. Murgatroyd
Epic
Argonautica with Jackie Murray (University of Kentucky); translation by A. Poochigian
The Iliad with Lynn Kozak (McGill University); translation by S. Lombardo, courtesy of Hackett Publishing Company
The Iliad, Scroll 1, with Jared Simard (New York University) and Maria Xanthou (University of Bristol); translation by S. Lombardo, courtesy of Hackett Publishing Company
The Odyssey with Suzanne Lye (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Leonard Muellner (Brandeis University), Sheila Murnaghan (University of Pennsylvania), and Greg Nagy (Harvard University); translation by S. Lombardo, courtesy of Hackett Publishing Company. This episode concluded the Odyssey ‘Round the World event.
Plays from the Baroque Era to the Present
The Laodamiad by Chas LiBretto with Erika Weiberg (Duke University)
El Monstruo de los Jardines by Pedro Calderón de la Barca with Francisco Barrenechea (University of Maryland, College Park); translation by C. Svich
Project Background [back to top]
Reading Greek Tragedy Online was created during the first weeks of the COVID-19 lockdown. The project’s intention is to create community during a time of enforced separation, to foster dialogues between actors and academics, and to create an educational resource for a wide range of students. Furthermore, the project aims to explore how we can make theatre online and in different spaces, and to build an international ensemble of performers. The project also works with artists who respond to these scripts in a variety of ways, whether as performers, musicians, directors, or translators. By creating connections between theater practitioners and researchers, the project hopes to yield future productions and new interpretations of tragedy.
So far, more than 125 actors and researchers from Australia, Canada, Cyprus, France, Greece, India, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, the UK, and the US have participated, and the project intends to work with people across the globe.
Outreach [back to top]
Outreach is an essential part of the work we create. Reading Greek Tragedy Online welcomes interest from anyone who would like to be involved, in any capacity. Current plans include:
- encouraging groups to host full readings of tragedies (see Relative Theatrics in Laramie, WY for an example).
- facilitating Playing Medea, a competition for high school groups to stage scenes from Medea. Competitions in Greece, Italy, and the UK are now in progress. The competation in Canada and the USA has concluded.
- running interactive online workshops for Bacchae and Medea, in collaboration with Classics for All.
- hosting Q&A sessions on Zoom for students.
- organizing events such as Odyssey ‘Round the World.
Please get in touch on outofchaosplays(at)gmail.com to learn more.
Contributor Biographies [back to top]
Out of Chaos Theatre
Out of Chaos combines creative physical approaches to theatre and rigorous text work which investigates old stories and their enduring relevance to modern audiences. They make work which is exciting, challenging and generous, with a belief in the absolute importance of clear storytelling in creative and surprising forms. Every one of their productions puts the audience at its heart – including them within the action of the play to create truly communal events with the power to move, entertain, edify and enthral. They have toured extensively throughout the UK, Europe, the US and New Zealand, winning multiple awards. Their artistic director is Paul O’Mahony who has twice been a visiting artist at the CHS. He is currently working on an adaptation of the Aeneid, and a musical inspired by the ancient Olympics.
Actors and Panelists
Vincent Agnello is a member of NYU Gallatin’s class of 2022. He has been a professional actor since age 10 and has starred on Broadway and on television. He is currently studying directing and writing, and the cultural impact of art.
Noelia Antweiler is an actor and creative professional, living in New York City. As an actor, Noelia has performed in numerous NYC and regional theatres, and has additional credits in film and television. Noelia is also a trained aerialist in silks, lyra, and double-point harness, and loves to be in the air. When she is not performing, Noelia is an educator and administrator at several organizations: she currently serves as the Director of Virtual Programming at Relative Theatrics, the Director of Development for Arête Theatrics, and is an educator and producer for Voices Inside/Out, an organization committed to reducing recidivism in prisons across the country.
Nathalie Armin has appeared in many acclaimed stage shows including The Motherf**ker with the Hat at the National Theatre, Limehouse at the Donmar Warehouse and Robert Icke’s award-winning production of The Doctor at the Almeida Theatre. Her film and television work includes Final Score, Denial, Grow Your Own, Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, the award-winning The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, Unforgotten, Marcella, and Maigret’s Dead Man.
Lucia Athanassaki is Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Crete. She holds a BA from the University of Athens and a PhD from Brown University. She has published extensively on melic poetry, its artistic context and its ideological and political agenda. The focus of her research in recent years is on attitudes to art, lifestyle and leadership in the late 5th century as reflected in Attica drama and prose.
Kareem Badr is an actor, improviser, and teacher based out of Austin, TX. He is a co-owner of The Hideout Theatre, and performs and teaches internationally with his improv troupe PGraph.
Hadley Ball is an actor and writer. She is an Environmental Justice major at Pomona College, and has trained at Pomona’s Seaver Theater, The Groundlings School, and Margie Haber Studio in Los Angeles, CA. She is currently studying at the British American Drama Academy. If she was a bird she would be a pheasant.
James Callàs Ball is a freelance director and actor based in London, England. He is a Junior Associate Director at the Kings Head Theatre and founder of Speechless Theatre Company. He is Associate Director of the three-times Olivier Award nominated production of Amelie the Musical.
Emma Barclay studied at Cambridge University and trained at Drama Centre London. Credits include One Million Tiny Plays About Britain (Jermyn Street Theatre and Watermill Theatre), Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Wilton’s Music Hall, Watermill Theatre and UK Tour), Honk! (UK Tour), Babe the Sheep-Pig (Polka Theatre and UK Tour).
Adam Barnard is a writer and director based in London / Brighton, UK. He works in theatre, film and journalism.
Francisco Barrenechea earned his PhD in Classics from Columbia University, and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests include ancient drama, in particular Greek comedy and tragedy, as well as its reception in the Hispanic world. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Center for Hellenic Studies and the Loeb Classical Library Foundation. His first book, Comedy and Religion in Classical Athens: Narratives of Religious Experiences in Aristophanes’ Wealth, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2018. He is currently at work on his second book, on the various roles Greek tragedy has played in Mexican cultural debates from the 18th century to our present day.
Hannah Barrie is an experienced stage performer with leading roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company (in their Olivier Award winning production of The Histories), Northern Broadsides and Shakespeare’s Globe. She is an associate artist of Out of Chaos with whom she has performed Unmythable, and led puppetry research for Crossing the Sea.
Carlos Bellato is a Mexican actor and pianist, born and raised in Baja California Sur. He studied acting at La Casa Del Teatro in Mexico City, and won the Anglo Arts Scholarship for the Midsummer in Oxford program (2019).
Tajh Bellow currently resides in Los Angeles California. As of 2018, he has been a recurring regular on ABC’s General Hospital and has made multiple guest appearances on shows such as Bosch (Amazon), and The Middle (ABC). Calling for Love is a Romantic Comedy which premiered in Canada in June 2020 and will soon announce domestic premier dates. He attended the Midsummer in Oxford program in 2018 which changed his life forever!
Kim James Bey is Professor of Acting in the Department of Theatre Arts at Howard University. As an actress, her work spans from Off-Broadway to regional theatres. Recent work: Sleep Deprivation Chamber (Suzanne Alexander) at Round House and McCarter Theatres (2021 Drama League Awards nomination Outstanding Digital Theatre Collection). Kim is also a Dialect/Vocal Coach specializing in rhythms and sounds of the African, Caribbean, and African American Diaspora. She is certified in Fitzmaurice Voicework, member of Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA), National Alliance of Acting Teachers, and Actor’s Equity Association, Duke Ellington School of the Arts/Theatre faculty.
Joshua Billings teaches in the Classics Department at Princeton University. His research focuses on Greek tragedy, intellectual history, and classical reception. He has published Genealogy of the Tragic: Greek Tragedy and German Philosophy (Princeton 2014) and is currently finishing a book on Greek drama and early Greek philosophy, which will be published in 2021.
Hunter Bird is Brooklyn-based maker of new plays and musicals. He has directed new work at Ars Nova, Roundabout Theatre Company, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The McKittrick Hotel, Signature Theatre with Columbia University, The Getty Villa, 59E59, Lincoln Center Education, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Musical Theatre Factory. Associate and assistant directing credits include the Pre-Broadway run of Clybourne Park, The Flaming Lips’ musical Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, and work on Broadway and across the country with Lynne Meadow, Des McAnuff, Pam MacKinnon, Doug Hughes, Graciela Daniele, Gilbert Cates, Eve Ensler, and the National Theatre of Scotland. Affiliations: Jonathan Alper Directing Fellow (MTC, 2017 & 2019), The Civilians R&D Group (18/19), the Samuel J. Friedman Assistantship (MTC, 2015), SDCF Observership (2013), The UCLA Emerging Director Award (2011), Gilbert Cates Fellowship (2009), Line Producer of ANT Fest 2018 at Ars Nova, Colony Coordinator of the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals from 2014 – 2016, where he worked with over 120 writers on new musicals. Training: BA in Directing and Musical Theatre from UCLA; RADA (Summer Directing Intensive).
Nichole Bird was a member of the award-winning 2019 production of Unmythable by Out of Chaos, and has extensive credits at Shakespeare’s Globe and throughout the UK.
Vincent Brimble is part of the Olivier Award winning Jacobean Season at the RSC and a regular performer at The Orange Tree Theatre.
Aldo Bringas is a Mexican Actor, born and raised in Mexico City. He has graduated from La Casa del Teatro A.C. (class of 2015). Within his relevant artistic experience, he acted in the play Skylight, directed by Luis de Tavira, along with Marina de Tavira and Rafael Sánchez Navarro. He is currently part of the cast of Narcos: México 3 (Netflix).
Beth Burns is the Artistic Director for Austin Texas’ The Hidden Room Theatre.
Jessie Cannizzaro is an actor, writer, and comedian. Select theater credits include The Gods of Comedy (The Old Globe), Puffs (New World Stages), Romeo and Juliet (Lincoln Center Education), The Mysteries (The Flea), and the title role in Hamlet (American Theatre of Actors). Select TV credits include “Nella the Princess Knight” (Nickelodeon), “Urban Teach Now” (iTVFest), and “Losing It with John Stamos” (Yahoo! Screen). Select film credits include Selah and The Spades (Amazon) and Puffs: Live Off-Broadway (Amazon). As a writer, Jessie’s work has been seen in comedy festivals nationwide, and she was a member of Ars Nova’s inaugural comedy residency. She trained at Upright Citizens Brigade, and writes and performs sketch comedy with her team at The Peoples Improv Theater. Jessie studied performance at The British American Drama Academy in London, and graduated with a BA in Theater and Political Science from Swarthmore College.
Mat Carbon is a Scientific Collaborator of the Département des Sciences de l’Antiquité, Université de Liège, and one of the principal investigators of the Collection of Greek Ritual Norms project. His research and publications focus on the numerous interchanges between epigraphy and religion, in particular the inscriptions called ‘ritual norms’, documents which notably define rituals of sacrifice and purification in ancient Greek communities. Recent publications include Purity and Purification in the Ancient Greek World (Liège 2018), which he co-edited with S. Peels-Matthey.
Rob Castell is a musician and writer. He co-founded, wrote for and performed with the multi-award winning a cappella quartet Barbershopera from 2007 – 2015. He has written songs for Playing It Straight (E4), Officially Amazing (CBBC) and the new YouTube channel Tiny Toons. He has also been a musical director and composer for several new musicals in the UK, with York Theatre Royal, Nuffield Theatre, Birmingham Rep & with Out Of Chaos Theatre.
Claire Catenaccio is a scholar of ancient drama and its modern reception. She has published on the imagery of dreams in Aeschylus’ Oresteia, on singing heroes in Sophocles’ Trachiniae, and on the transformation of the myth of Orpheus in the Broadway musical Hadestown. As a dramaturg and director, she has worked extensively with modern stagings of ancient texts. She teaches as a member of the faculty at Georgetown University.
Roshni Chakraborty is a junior at Harvard College from Kolkata, India. She concentrates in Social Studies (an interdisciplinary social sciences major) with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. Her research interests are in gender-based violence, particularly as it intersects with conflict and migration, and disaster risk reduction.
Tamieka Chavis is a resident company member with Chesapeake Shakespeare Company playing leading roles in Macbeth and The Tempest. She has been nominated for and awarded numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Awards, Indie Series Awards, Broadway World Awards.
Joel Christensen is Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Classical Studies at Brandeis University. His The Many-Minded Man: the Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic, published by Cornell University Press, will appear in 2020.
Amy R. Cohen is Professor of Classics and of Theatre at Randolph College. She is the Director of the Center for Ancient Drama and holds Thoresen Chair of Speech and Theatre. After graduating from Harrisonburg High School, she earned her B.A. at Yale University and her Ph.D. at Stanford University. Her work focuses on what Greek dramatic masks mean for our understanding of ancient theatre and on the interpretive implications of doubling and the three-actor convention in Greek tragedy. She was the Classical Association of Virginia Teacher of the Year in 2008 and was awarded the Society for Classical Studies 2015 Outreach Prize for her work directing an ongoing series of original-practices Greek plays.
Emma Cole is Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and Classics at the University of Bristol, and an AHRC Innovation Fellow (2019-2022). She is the author of Postdramatic Tragedies (OUP, 2019) and the co-editor of Adapting Translation for the Stage (Routledge, 2017). Her current research focuses on the synergy between ancient literature and immersivity; as part of her Innovation Fellowship she is writing the monograph Punchdrunk on the Classics: Ancient Greek Literature and Immersive Experience (under contract with Palgrave Macmillan), and is also working as dramaturg for Punchdrunk theatre company on their forthcoming production The Burnt City.
James Collins is Associate for Civic and Philosophical Engagement at the Center for Hellenic Studies and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney. He uses a variety of literary, philosophical, sociological, and neuroscientific approaches to study the pragmatics of intellectual life in antiquity, with a principal focus on philosophical recruitment and ancient education, including choral training and performance. He is director of the interdisciplinary Performing Wisdom program, which develops strategies for introducing people of all backgrounds and ages to philosophy as an active–often public–discipline through dramatic and rhetorical training and performance.
Lyndsay Coo is Senior Lecturer in Ancient Greek Language and Literature at the University of Bristol, where she is also Deputy Director of the Institute of Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition. Her research focuses on ancient Greek tragedy and satyr play, with particular interests in Sophocles and the lost and fragmentary works. Her recent publications include the edited volumes Aeschylus at Play: Studies in Aeschylean Satyr Drama (co-edited with Anna Uhlig, BICS 62.2, 2019) and Female Characters in Fragmentary Greek Tragedy (co-edited with Patrick Finglass, Cambridge University Press 2020).
Sarah Marie Curry has been an actor and working artist for over a decade. Regional acting credits include: The Last Five Years (Jaime), Fun Home (Alison), Company (Jenny), Into the Woods (Cinderella) to name a few. On stage she has been called “hilarious” “fierce” “truly exceptional” and is a local Austin, Texas award winner for Outstanding Lead Actress in multiple productions over the years.
Leander Deeny is a London based actor. His theatre work includes The RSC, Globe Theatre, Young Vic, Edinburgh Traverse and Liverpool Everyman. His TV work includes Holby City, Skins, Merlin and Doctors. His film work includes Atonement and Captain America: The First Avenger.
Tim Delap has performed several times in leading roles at the National Theatre and in the West End. He recently played Rochester in the National Theatre’s critically-acclaimed Jane Eyre.
Kivarah De Luca is a performing arts student at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. Currently abroad, she studies stage acting at the British American Drama Academy in London. She has appeared in five student short films, two virtual theatre productions, performed in a dance showcase and created and appeared in collaborative dance film girls (2022) at Sarah Lawrence College (2020-2022). Next semester she will continue her studies abroad in the conservatory film acting program at Prague Film School (2023).
Zack Dictakis is an actor, filmmaker, writer and producer currently creating in Boston, MA and collaborating virtually all over the world. After earning his BFA in Acting from the University of Connecticut, Zack started the production company, Zack & Aaron, where he is able to write and produce original content on YouTube. Zack is in post-production for his first TV pilot, Boston Baked Beans premiering early 2021, with a feature film coming later in the year.
Ursula Early is director of East London Shakespeare Festival and Waltham Forest based theatre company Blackhorse Arts. She is also Producer and Programmer for Walthamstow’s performance venue CentreE17. Her TV credits include: Eastenders, Doctors, The Bill, Life Begins and several independent films. Stage credits include: 2M2 Shakespeare (East London Shakespeare Festival), The Endings (Soho Theatre & Nottingham Playhouse), Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Elbows (Arts Theatre/Theatre Royal Stratford East), Surplus Women (Theatre Royal Bath Ustinov) and many more.
Mary Ebbott is a Professor in the Department of Classics at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she is also currently serving as a Dean of the Faculty. She is the author of Imagining Illegitimacy in Ancient Greek Literature and co-author with Casey Dué of Iliad 10 and the Poetics of Ambush.
David Elmer is an Eliot Professor of Greek Literature in the Department of the Classics at Harvard University. His research interests include; archaic Greek epic and lyric poetry, epigram, Ancient Greek and Roman novels, South Slavic oral epic and, contemporary literary theory.
Danai Epithymiadi studied theater in London and New York and has been working as an actress in Greece since 2012. As part of the chorus in Electra by Euripides, she has toured extensively around Greece. Last July was the first time she played in Epidaurus theater (again as part of the chorus) in Iphigenia in Aulis.
Judd Farris is an educator, actor, and co-creator of Seam Project. He is a primary collaborator with The Hidden Room Theatre and Arcos Dance. He has also worked with RudeFusion, Present Company, paper chairs, and Capital T in Austin.
Nancy Felson is a Professor of Classics at the University of Georgia. She is the author of Regarding Penelope: From Character to Poetics. She is the author of nearly three dozen scholarly articles discussing Greek and Latin literature.
Sarah Finigan has numerous credits at Shakespeare’s Globe. She has toured internationally and throughout the UK.
Liz Fisher is an interdisciplinary theatermaker based in Austin. Her directing work explores applications of mixed realities, immersive theatre strategies, and game mechanics in new play development and reimaginings of classic texts. As a Princess Grace Award winner, she has been a guest artist at universities around the country.
Helene Foley is Professor of Classics at Columbia University. She is the author of Reimagining Greek Tragedy on the American Stage (2012) and Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (2002), among others. She is currently finishing a book on Euripides’ Hecuba.
RJ Foster is a New York based Equity and SAG AFTRA actor. He has worked in New York (Classical Theatre of Harlem, Classic Stage Company) and regionally (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Folger Theatre) as well as on television shows such as The Good Fight, Power, and The Blacklist.
Melissa Funke is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Winnipeg. She holds a PhD in Classics from the University of Washington. Her work focuses on dramatic performance (ancient and modern) as well as gender and status in classical antiquity, particularly as it is depicted in literature; it has appeared in Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies along with several collected volumes. Her current project is a biography of the (in)famous Greek courtesan Phryne that examines the role of anecdote in fashioning literary-historical narratives.
Mariah Gale won the Ian Charleson Award in 2006 and has gone on to play numerous leading roles at the RSC and The Globe. TV credits include Broadchurch, Doctor Who and The Hollow Crown.
Tabatha Gayle is a New York based multi-disciplinary creator and performer who has developed work at various theaters, such as Musical Theater Factory, Ars Nova, and Poetic Theater Productions. As a performer she has appeared off-broadway at venues such as Here Arts Center, New York Musical Festival, Ars Nova, and The Flea.
Phoebe Golfinos is a third year student at Northwestern University studying Theatre. This semester, she is training at the British American Drama Academy in London. Voiceover credits include Wallykazam (Nickelodeon) and Eighth Grade (A24).
María Goycoolea, Mexican-Spanish actress, studied in Mexico with Polish teacher Ludwik Margules, then specialised in Barcelona. She has worked in over 30 plays.
Robert Groves is an Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Arizona, where he both teaches and stages Ancient Greek drama. He is a regular participant in the readings staged at the SCS meeting as part of the Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance, most recently directing Addison’s “Cato” in January 2020. His other research interests include the ancient novel, ancient multilingualism and receptions of antiquity on the american stage.
Melíza Gutierrez (she/they) is an actor, playwright, and poet from Southern California. She received her BA in Drama with Honors in Acting from the University of California, Irvine where she also served as Artistic Director for Brown Bag Theater Company and Schrodinger’s Cast: 30 Plays in 60 Minutes. Melíza has since worked with Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble, Casa 0101 Theatre, Workshop Theater, and Chicanas Cholas y Chisme as an actor, poet, playwright, and producer in developing new works. They are currently an MFA in Acting Candidate at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where they will soon perform as Volumnia in Coriolanus. You can also catch Melíza this summer in Shakespeare at Notre Dame’s Hamlet 50/50. Instagram: @melizakg Website: www.melizagutierrez.com
Alice Haig trained at Central School of Speech and Drama. Her theatre credits include: Grandpa’s Great Escape (Arena Tour); Unmythable (The Vaults & Touring); Love From A Stranger (Royal and Derngate & UK Tour); Pride and Prejudice (Nottingham Playhouse & York Theatre Royal); Richard III (USA Tour); The Brink (Orange Tree Theatre); Tis Pity She’s A Whore (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Globe Theatre); Sense and Sensibility (The Watermill); The Fairy Queen (BAM & Glyndebourne); Holding Fire (The Globe). She has also appeared on Scottish Killers (BBC), and the radio program Blood and Milk (BBC).
Marietta Hedges has worked as an actress in the US as well as In London and Shanghai. She is also a professor of acting at Catholic University in Washington, DC.
Emma Joy Hill is a writer, performer, dramaturg, and theatre artist. Her passion for writing plays extends into a deep love for grotesque performance art, devised theatre, and sexual violence activism. She holds a BA in Theatre Studies/Playwriting from the University of Connecticut and currently resides in that area. Selected playwriting credits include: The Fires We Don’t See: a Deconstructed Three Sisters, Helen, That Story Again, A Skin of Veils, Those Hollow Bodies, and Trudy Tries to say I Love You But Runs Out of Breath.
Paul Hurley has performed leading roles with theaters all over the United States, including the Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Comedy of Errors, Othello); New York Classical Theatre (The Taming of the Shrew); Utah Shakespeare Festival (Romeo and Juliet); Great Lakes Theater (Two Gentleman of Verona, The Mousetrap); Ohio Shakespeare Festival (Measure for Measure); Resident Ensemble Players (Angels in America, Hamlet); and seven seasons with the American Players Theatre (The Cure at Troy, The Circle, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, The Cherry Orchard, among others). He is an Assistant Professor of Acting and Movement at Kent State University.
Pria Jackson is a second year PhD student at Princeton University in the Classics Department. Her research focuses on material culture in the ancient world (specifically textiles) and onomastics.
Tony Jayawardena has numerous credits in leading roles at the RSC and Shakespeare’s Globe. Recently seen in Series 4 of The Crown.
Ayanda Nhlangothi KaNokwe is a Singer, Actor, Dancer, Songwriter, Producer, Social Activist, Director, Manager & Teacher. Her career in the arts began at age 10, acting and singing in the movie Sarafina starring Whoopi Goldberg; for Disney’s The Lion King Zulu movie she was the Voice of Simba and the lead voice in the original e-tv theme song. She was regarded as “the class” of the 2002 Idols competition and “The Voice of a Nation.” She has starred in South Africa’s Sleeping Beauty Pantomime, the British musical Boogie Nights, New York Off Broadway Drumstruck, and most recently in the hit television series Ifalakhe on Showmax in South Africa. She released her debut album with Sony Bmg in 2007; her current single “Ubizo Lwami” with DJ Tomby is available on all platforms. She is currently host of the international radio show “Restoration In Progress” on the WOMan Radio platform and stars in “The Wife” on Shomax. Ayanda’s strong sense of social consciousness was influenced by her family’s rich musical history inherited from her grandparents, the legendary Patty and Alfred Nokwe; mother Marilyn Nokwe of Mango Groove, and Tu Nokwe of Shaka Zulu fame who all played a pivotal role in guiding her artistic development. Giving back to the next generation she is the General Manager and a facilitator at Amajika Performing Arts.
Efimia D. Karakantza is Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Literature, University of Patras, Greece. Her recent focus is on feminist and political readings of ancient Greek literature, mainly the Homeric poems and Greek tragedy (Sophocles in particular). Her book on Oedipus, Who Am I? (Mis)Identity and the Polis in Oedipus Tyrannus, (HSS 86, HUP 2020), explores issues of identity and citizenship in the ancient polis, and her book on Antigone (co-authored with Anastasia Bakogianni) is due soon by Routledge in the series: Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World. She has recently introduced the course “Feminist Criticism and Classics” at her department, one of the few (if not the first) in Greek universities to explore how feminist thought has changed the way we read the classical texts.
Rebecca Futo Kennedy is Associate Professor of Classics at Denison University. She has published widely on Aeschylus, the social and political history of Athens, and on theories of race and ethnicity in Greco-Roman antiquity and their reception in modern white supremacism and scientific racism. Her most recent publication is Brill’s Companion to the reception of Aeschylus.
Bruce M. King teaches ancients and moderns at the Pierrepont School, at the Gallatin School of individualized Study (NYU), and the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. His book on the Iliad, Achilles Unheroic, is forthcoming.
Richard Klautsch is a Professor of Theatre and the Chair of the Department of Theatre, Film, and Creative Writing at Boise State University. As a professional actor he has most recently appeared at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Boise Contemporary Theater, Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, and the Great Lakes Theatre in Cleveland, and in the independent film, Making Sense.
Lanah Koelle is the fellowship program manager and a librarian at the Center for Hellenic Studies. As a jazz vocalist, she has performed at various venues in Washington, DC.
Lynn Kozak works at McGill University. Their research focuses on performing ancient texts and on poetics in long-form serial narratives, including ancient epics and contemporary television, with recent and forthcoming publications on the Iliad, FOX’s The Exorcist, Lucifer, Stranger Things, and Hannibal. In 2018, they performed a new, partially improvised, English translation of the entire Iliad in 29 weekly instalments at Bar des Pins, Montreal, available to watch online here.
Katerina Ladianou studied Greek Philology at the University of Crete (BA and MA) and received her Doctorate Degree at the Ohio State University. Her PhD thesis discussed the feminine voice in Archaic Greek Poetry. She has taught both Greek and Latin at the Ohio State University, University of Patras, University of Crete, and University of Athens. Her scholarly interests include archaic Greek poetry (both epic and lyric), Roman love elegy, performance and gender.
Anna Lamari is Assistant Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is the author of Narrative, Intertext, and Space in Euripides’ Phoenissae (Berlin/New York 2010), and Reperforming Greek Tragedy (Berlin/Boston 2017). She is currently working on a Commentary of Middle Comedy poets Nausicrates, Nicostratus, Ophelion, Philetaerus, Phillipus and Philiscus in the series Fragmenta Comica (FrC).
Lizbeth Lambert is a Mexican actress, currently enrolled at Universidad de las Américas Puebla, studying Theatre. She enrolled at M&M Studios for 1 year, doing Musical Theatre and she won the Anglo Arts Scholarship for the Midsummer in Oxford program (2019).
Martin K. Lewis is an actor from and based in NYC. Recent credits include: REGIONAL – Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Miami New Drama, Elm Shakespeare Company. OFF-BROADWAY – New Light Theater Project: & The New York Theater Workshop.
Chas LiBretto is a Brooklyn based playwright and is the co-founder of Psittacus Productions, a theater company dedicated to finding the intersections of modern and classical storytelling. His writing has been developed at Ars Nova, Roundabout Theatre, Lincoln Center Education, The Getty Villa, Theater Masters, NYMF, Pasadena Playhouse, Alabama Shakespeare, and the Paideia Institute. He was the winner of the inaugural Columbia@Roundabout prize and he is an alum of Theater Masters, Ars Nova’s Uncharted writers group, and was a Paideia Institute Brightheart Fellow. He holds an MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University where he was mentored by Oskar Eustis.
Lily Ling is an actor currently based in New York City. Recent credits include a virtual production of Men on Boats(Hawkins), the premier performance of Questions I Have Before You Go (Lark), and Trestle at Pope Lick Creek (Pace).
Colleen Longshaw is a Cleveland, Ohio native. She is currently the Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for the City of Shaker Heights, Ohio. She is also an adjunct professor at Baldwin Wallace in the Musical Theatre department. Colleen holds both a BFA and MFA in acting from Kent State University. She most recently directed the Exonerated at The Beck Center, Dominique Moriesseaus’ Blood at the Root at Cleveland State University, and Idris Goodwins’ Jacked! at Cleveland Play House.
Llera Lugo is a Mexican actor who studied at the school of Bellas Artes. He prepared himself in several academies of Theater, Film, Music and Dance. He worked in a Theater Company for a year in Toronto, Canada. He has participated in different films and short films. He is currently acting in different shows and he is assistant director of a casting company in Mexico City.
Michael Lumsden is a regular on the BBC’s The Archers , and has worked in UK theatre for over 30 years with a string of credits at The Orange Tree Theatre in London.
Hugo Luna is a Mexican performer who started acting when he was 13 years old. He finished his studies at Casazul Artes Escénicas Argos. He also trained at The British American Drama Academy in Oxford. He is a company member of a New York based Theatre Company (Yonder Window Theatre Company) and has worked with them in NYC and Montreal.
Suzanne Lye is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her current research focuses on conceptions of the afterlife in ancient Greek Underworld narratives from Homer to Lucian. She has published on ancient epic, ancient magic and religion, ancient representations of gender and ethnicity, ancient and modern pedagogy, and Classical reception.
Fiona Macintosh is Director of the Archive of Performances, Professor of Classical Reception and Fellow of St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. She has published widely on the reception of Greek and Roman plays and epic in multiple media and has recently co-curated with Claire Kenward a free, multimedia/interactive e-book, Agamemnon, a performance history published in two installments: “Beginnings & Whose Play?” and “Homecoming & Lyric.”
Natasha Magigi, an associate artist of Teatro Vivo, has worked on the West End, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and a number of regional theatres and companies across the UK.
J. Landon Marcus is a composer, painter, and performer living in New York’s pastoral Hudson Valley. He is the composer and lyricist of several musicals and original albums including the Pultizer Nominated, “Cyclops: A Rock Opera.” He holds an MA from The New School and is an alum of the Ars Nova Uncharted writer’s group. His work explores the feedback loop of myth and culture.
Toph Marshall is Professor of Greek at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. His work on tragedy includes books on Euripides’ Helen and Aeschylus’ Libation Bearers. He has also published on Greek and Roman comedy, American comics, Battlestar Galactica, and The Wire.
Anne Mason is an actor, director, and producer in Laramie, WY, as well as the Founder/Producing Artistic Director of Relative Theatrics. A self-proclaimed Greek Mythology Junkie, she is thrilled to expand her knowledge of the Classics by participating in this project.
Robert Matney is an Austin, Texas-based stage and voice actor focused on classical plays and the intersection of live performance and network technology. He is also a Managing Director for Yonder, a software company that analyzes online affinity groups, coordinated propaganda, and the influence mechanics of the internet.
Patrick Walshe McBride studied Oriental Studies with Modern and Medieval Languages at the University of Cambridge before training as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has since worked internationally in theatre, television and film. Credits include Peer Gynt (Barbican), Photograph 51 (Noel Coward), Trouble in Mind (Theatre Royal Bath), Harold and Maude (Charing Cross), Hamlet (Kronborg Castle, Elsinore), The Winter’s Tale (Crucible), Dracula (BBC/Netflix), Shakespeare and Hathaway (BBC), Giri/Haji (Netflix/BBC), Pixies (Youtube Red), Backdraft II (Universal) and Lake of the Dead (Pryserfilm).
Petra McGregor is a third year student at NYU Tisch studying at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.
Ellen McLaughlin has worked extensively in regional, international and New York theater, both as an actor and as a playwright. Much of her work has involved adaptation, and to date, she has written a dozen plays and operas based on Greek classical sources. Her work includes Tongue of a Bird, The Persians, Blood Moon, and The Oresteia. Producers include The Public Theater, Shakespeare Theatre Company, The Guthrie and The Almeida Theater, London. She has taught at Barnard College since 1995.
Ronan Melomo is an Austin, Texas based theatre maker and arts educator. He graduated from NYU & the Stella Adler Studio of Acting with a BFA in acting and has focused much of his career on classical theatre. He hopes to continue his training in graduate school to further his craft and serve as a voice that amplifies underheard voices and uplifts the theatrical community as a whole.
T. Lynn Mikeska is an actor, writer, musician and puppeteer currently pursuing her MFA in acting at the University Of Georgia.
Evelyn Miller just finished playing Bianca in The Taming of the Shrew at Shakespeare’s Globe. Other recent credits include leading roles at the National Theatre and RSC. Evvy is an associate director of Actors From The London Stage.
Lexi Minetree is a theatre major at the University of Southern California and is currently studying at the British American Drama Academy. Theatre credits include Brooke in Noises Off, Inez in No Exit, and Marianne in Tartuffe.
Robin Mitchell-Boyask is professor of Greek and Roman Classics at Temple University in Philadelphia, and editor of the journal Classical World. Among his publications on Greek literature, he literally wrote the book on the plague and Athenian tragedy: Plague and the Athenian Imagination.
Alejandro Mitre Díaz de León was born in San Luis Potosí. He studied Business Management at Universidad del Centro de México in 2003. He is a watercolor painter and realtor currently living in Todos Santos, Baja California Sur.
Ria Modak is a junior in the Harvard/New England Conservatory dual degree program studying Social Studies and South Asian Studies as well as guitar performance. They are an organizer with the Harvard Student Labor Action Movement and serve on the board of the Phillips Brooks House Association.
Timothy Moore is the John and Penelope Biggs Distinguished Professor of Classics at Washington University in St. Louis. Moore’s current projects include articles on the history and performance of Greek and Roman theater and on Latin meter, and a long-range project on musical theater in ancient Greece and Rome. He also has interests in the history of theatre, especially American musical theatre and Japanese Kyogen comedy.
Leonard Muellner is Professor of Classical Studies Emeritus at Brandeis University and Director for IT and Publications at the Center for Hellenic Studies. His scholarly interests center on Homeric epic, with special interests in historical linguistics, anthropological approaches to the study of myth, and the poetics of oral traditional poetry.
Sheila (Bridget) Murnaghan teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. She works in the areas of Greek epic and tragedy, gender in classical culture, and classical reception. Her publications on Homer include Disguise and Recognition in the Odyssey (2nd ed. 2011) and Introductions to the translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey by Stanley Lombardo.
Jackie Murray is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Kentucky. Her research focuses on Hellenistic Poetry, its reception of Archaic Greek poetry and its influence on Latin and Imperial Greek Literature, and the reception of Classics in African American and Afro-Caribbean literature. She is currently finishing up a monograph on Νεῖκος: Apollonius’ Argonautica and the Poetics of Controversy under contract with CHS: Harvard University Press and is working on two others, W.E.B Du Bois’ Quest of the Silver Fleece: An African American Foundation Epic and Race and Racecraft in Ancient Epic: Homer, Theocritus, Apollonius and Vergil.
Gregory Nagy is the Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University. He is also currently the Curator of the Milman Parry Collection of Oral Literature and, since August 2000, the Faculty Director of Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies. He is a renowned authority in the field of Homeric and related Greek studies.
Richard Neale is associate director of Actor From The London Stage with whom he has toured the US playing leading roles in The Tempest, King Lear and Othello. A director and teacher, Richard has almost 20 years’ experience of performing in the UK.
Brian Arkamian Nelson Jr. is known for NBC’s Chicago MED, Chicago P.D. and FOX’s A.P.B. Originally from Chicago, he has worked regionally at theaters such as Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Paramount Theatre and Court Theatre. In 2018, Brian spent the summer studying acting at Oxford University with the British American Drama Academy. Brian is currently living and working in LA as an actor.
LeeAnet Noble graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University’s Department of Theatre Arts and is certified in Equity from Purdue University. As an actor, director, choreographer, musician, and writer her career has spanned over twenty years working with STOMP, Drumstruck, The Irish Repertory Theatre, Disney’s The Lion King Experience, Disney on Broadway, Bono, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Sheryl Crow, Charles S. Dutton, Danny Glover, Sosh France, Kenny Ortega, Adidas, Tumblr, Yahoo, Woolrich, Refinery29, and more. Her original shows have premiered Off-Broadway at The Zipper Theatre and at 54Below in New York City and at The Kennedy Center. She is the director of the upcoming touring production and digital film 10 Seconds, a play based on police relations with youth in Washington, DC produced by Imagination Stages. Alongside her mother Lauretta Noble, she is the co-director of the Internationally critically acclaimed dance troupe Team Vicious, (Rick Owens, Lauryn Hill, Carrie Mae Weems, Gabourey Sidibe, Jennifer Lawrence, Flaunt). Her work diversifying fashion and creating inclusive spaces in the arts has been inducted into museums around the world including The Museum of Modern Art, The Museum at FIT, The Brooklyn Museum amongst others and featured in major magazines worldwide including Vogue, Elle, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Guardian, Dazed, Ms, Ebony, and millions more. As an educator she has worked at Montgomery College and Howard University and has conducted workshops, master classes, and lectures at Spelman College, Morgan State University, Hunter College, Coppin State University, Clark Atlanta University, Bowie State University, Morehouse College, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. She is currently on Senior Staff at Shakespeare Theatre Company as the Director of Equity and Enrichment where she most recently curated Amen Baldwin: A Living Celebration and Co-Directed and produced the star-studded digital 2020 gala, Shakespeare Everywhere and the 2021 event Our Town, Our Shakespeare in the Park at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. She is passionate about creating change through the arts.
Anne-Sophie Noel is Associate Professor in Greek at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. Her paper on “Playing make-believe with objects: counterfactual imagination and psychodrama in Greek tragedy” will appear in the forthcoming volume How to Do the Psychology of the Ancient World, edited by V. Glaveanu, L. Huitink, and I. Sluiter and published by Brill in the series, Euhormos: Greco-Roman Studies in Anchoring Innovation.
Nick Nudler is from Westford, MA. As an actor, some of his favorite shows he’s been a part of have been: Indecent and Rough Crossing at Cape Rep Theatre; The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth at Shakespeare & Company; Jesus Christ Superstar, As You Like It, and The Importance of Being Earnest at CT Repertory Theatre; and the devised piece, Ziggy Bacchus and the Maenads from Mars. He received a BFA in Acting from UConn, where he studied at the Theatre Academy of London for a semester.
Paul O’Mahony is artistic director of Out of Chaos with whom he created the award winning Unmythable . He recently toured the US in their production of Macbeth and is currently working on two productions inspired by ancient culture. As an actor his credits include the Royal Shakespeare Company, English Touring Opera and several seasons at The Orange Tree Theatre. He has twice been a visiting artist at the CHS and is Associate Director of Actors From The London Stage.
Arantxa Olortegui is a Peruvian actress, currently living in Lima, Peru. She studied acting at La Casa del Teatro in Mexico City, where she lived for the last 5 years. She performed in plays such as La Séptima morada by Luis de Tavira, La XI Noche de combate escénico by Miguel Angel Barrera, and Kásperle, which was directed by Quy Lan Lachino and which was the finalist in the XXVII Festival Internacional de Teatro Universitario de la UNAM.
Andrea Celeste Padilla enrolled in Casa del Teatro where she obtained her acting degree. She studied psychology as a first degree. In Casa del Teatro she presently works as the Academy Coordinator, and also teaches the subjects of the history of theatre and psychological analysis for characters As a coordinator she’s in charge of the relations between the Academia and the Student Body, and curates the cultural program that involves both national and international events. She is a founding member of Ocho Metros Cúbicos, A.C, a theatre company as well as a non-profit organization with nine productions that has won invitations to the most prestigious theatre festivals in Mexico.
Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Parkyn is the Director for Research and Partnerships at the University of Notre Dame’s London Global Gateway. Her research focuses on ancient Greek theatre and its reception, particularly looking at reconstructions of fragmentary drama. She has worked as an academic consultant on a number of theatre productions and is involved in a number of projects promoting engagement with the ancient world to non-academic audiences.
Eli Pauley is a New York based actor, teacher, and aspiring writer and director. She started acting professionally at the age of 8 and has worked regionally in the US; across the midwest and east coast. She is a recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama’s MFA Acting program.
Emma Pauly is a Chicago-based dramaturg, classicist, translator and performer specializing in Greek tragedy. Her work centers on performance and reception of tragedy, particularly in the context of queer themes and representation. Their translation of Eurpides’ Bacchae has most recently been published in the translation journal The Mercurian.
Ernest Emmanuel Peeples is an actor, writer, model, and voiceover artist from Chicago, IL. An MFA acting student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Peeples has over a decade of performance experience training and performing in multiple cities domestically and internationally. Notable projects include the titular role in Hamlet in its historic Helsingør, Denmark; leading Julius Caesar as Brutus in Northern California (Pacific Repertory Theatre); and Lu in the rolling world premiere of Ghost in Atlanta and St. Louis (Alliance Theatre & Metro Theater Company). Peeples has also studied with the British American Drama Academy at Magdalen College of Oxford University. Peeples remains committed to changing the perception of albinism in the media through his artistry and indebted to his friends, family, and God for their endless love and support.
-Professional Instagram: @eepeeples
Rad Pereira is a multi-spirit (im)migrant artist and cultural worker building consciousness between healing justice, system change, reindigenization and queer futures. They are of Pindorama (Brasil), currently based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn). Their practices range from renegade participatory ritual facilitation, to popular theatrical and TV/film performance, to community based educational artmaking and healing that weaves together an Afro-futurist longing for transformative justice and queer (re)Indigenization of culture. Their work has been supported by: You Are Here, National Black Theatre, Nowness, Watermill Center, Superhero Clubhouse, Bushwick Starr, Abrons Arts Center, NYTW, HBO, CBS, Shakespeare Theatre DC, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, New Ohio, The Public, art.coop and more. They are a co-writing a book with Jan Cohen-Cruz on community rooted performance and social justice to be published by New Village Press in 2022.
Amy Pistone is concluding her first year as an Assistant Professor at Gonzaga University. Her research focuses on Greek tragedy, specifically the plays of Sophocles, and she is very interested in public scholarship and contemporary receptions of Greek tragedy in modern society.
Eunice Roberts is Dean of the British American Drama Academy. She has toured extensively in the UK and US, and is also an associate director of Actors From The London Stage. She was in Season 2 of Killing Eve.
Nikaury Rodriguez is an actor, director, writer, teaching artist, conflict resolution specialist and diversity trainer from New York City. Nikaury has worked as an actor in Theatre, film, and television for over 30 years. As a teaching artist, she has worked with organizations such as Repertorio Español, Theatre Development Fund, ArtsConnection, Manhattan Theatre Club, MCC, Kipp Star Charter Schools,and Bank Street College in New York City to name a few; specializing in teaching improvisation, communication, unconscious bias training, conflict resolution, playwriting, and interactive theatre designed to promote critical thinking skills. Nikaury holds a BA in Sociology and Theatre from Hunter College (CUNY), certified by PACT as a conflict-resolution specialist, and is trained in Agusto Boal’s Theatre Of The Oppressed.
David Rubin’s credits include Tamburlaine, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter’s Tale, Julius Caesar (twice), Le Morte D’Arthur, Titus Andronicus, As You Like It, A Mad World My Masters, The Grain Store, and American Trade, (Royal Shakespeare Company); People, Places & Things, The Threepenny Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night (twice), The Tempest, and The Red Balloon (National Theatre). In London’s West End, his credits include Woyzeck (The Old Vic); the original West End Company production of Five Guys Named Moe (Lyric); Stomp (Royal Festival Hall); and In The Midnight Hour (Young Vic). David has also worked extensively for many UK regional theatres and for Chicken Shed Theatre, for whom he acts, writes and directs.
Rhys Rusbatch left Swansea at 18 to train at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His debut job was at the National Theatre in Our Class, which was nominated for an Olivier Award. He appeared at the RSC (most recently as Peter Pan) in Ella Hickson’s critically acclaimed version of Wendy and Peter. Rhys has also worked at the Young Vic, National Theatre Wales, the Old Vic and many other prestigious British theatres, including the Traverse in Edinburgh, Sherman Theatre, Glasgow Citizens and many more. His television and film credits include Sherlock, Zero Dark Thirty, Burn Burn Burn and Hunky Dory.
Norman Sandridge is Associate Professor of Classics at Howard University and a co-founder of Kallion Leadership . His “Sophocles’ Philoctetes : Causes of and Remedies for Dehumanization in a Leadership Role” has appeared in the SAGE series of business case studies on “Becoming a Leader in the Ancient World.”
Joel Alden Schlosser teaches political theory at Bryn Mawr College. Previously, he held the Julian Steward Chair in the Social Sciences at Deep Springs College. He has published numerous essays on ancient political thought, politics and American literature, and pedagogy. He is the author of What Would Socrates Do? Self-examination, civic engagement, and the politics of philosophy (Cambridge, 2014) and Herodotus in the Anthropocene (Chicago, 2020).
Michael Scott is a Professor of Classics at the University of Warwick, UK. He has written extensively on Greek history, society, culture and religion, on the early development of the Silk Roads, and on the reception of the ancient world in the modern. He has been recognised for his teaching with a National Teaching Fellowship and Principal Fellowship of the Higher Education Authority. He is an honorary citizen of Delphi, President of the largest regional branch of the UK Classical Association, and Trustee and Director of the UK charity Classics for All. He has written and presented numerous TV documentaries about the ancient world for BBC and ITV in the UK; Nova, PBS and National Geographic in the US, and SBS in Australia.
Carl Shaw teaches Greek language and literature at New College, the Honors College of Florida. His scholarly interests lie broadly in the areas of Greek literature and culture, with a particular focus on drama. He is the author of Satyric Play: The Evolution of Greek Comedy and Satyr Drama (Oxford University Press, 2014), and Euripides: Cyclops (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018).
Benjamin Sherman is originally from Glen Rock, New Jersey, a town built around a Rock. He began learning guitar at the age of 11. He is inspired by a wide range of music and guitar players including David Gilmour, Ry Cooder, and Santana. He moved to the West Coast in 2009 where he now resides with his wife and new baby daughter.
Kim D. Sherman is a composer living in New York City. She composes music for the theater, opera, the concert stage, and film. She embraces lyricism and dissonance as equal partners in conveying dramatic musical landscapes. Some of her recent compositions are The Clara Cycle, for Soprano, Violin and Piano (a Clara Schumann fantasy); Ada, an opera about computer pioneer Ada Lovelace; Summer 1976, for Baritone and String Quartet (a child’s experience of the Bicentennial); and currently in development is My Dear Susy Clemens, a Christmas musical based upon the writings of Samuel Clemens. Since 2016, she has been the composer in residence with Still Waters In A Storm, working with a group of immigrant children adapting Don Quixote into The Traveling Serialized Adventures of Kid Quixote, a play with songs. Her score for The Laodamiad has been adapted into a suite for solo cello.
Jared Simard is Clinical Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies at NYU. His work traces the reception of ancient mythology in the art and architecture of New York City combining classics, history, art history, archives, and biographical approaches into an interdisciplinary and innovative research agenda.
Andrew Earle Simpson is an acclaimed composer of opera, silent film, orchestral, chamber, choral, dance, and vocal music based in Washington, DC. His musical works make multi-faceted, intimate connections with literature, visual art, and film, reflecting his own interest in linking music with the wider world, an approach which he calls “humanistic music.” One of America’s foremost silent film accompaniments, he has performed across the United States, Europe, and South America. Greco-Roman antiquity is an important aspect of his creative work, including an operatic trilogy on Aeschylus’ Oresteia and numerous chamber pieces. He maintains a research interest in classical reception and the work of Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis. He is Professor of Music and Director of the Master of Music, Stage Music Emphasis program at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
Helen Slaney is author of The Senecan Aesthetic: a performance history (2016) and the Bloomsbury Companion to Seneca: Medea (2019). She has also published widely on classical reception and ancient dance, and her most recent book is Kinaesthesia and Classical Antiquity 1750-1820: Moved by Stone (2020). Her current day job is managing the Open Access platform at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia.
Niall W. Slater is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Latin and Greek at Emory University. Determining that acting was too hard a way to make a living, he opted for the leisure of the theoried class and has written books on Plautus, Petronius, Aristophanes, and Euripides, along with translations of fragments from Greek Middle and New Comedy poets. Further interests include the ancient novel, ancient warfare and its cultural impacts, and classical reception in 20th century theatre and children’s literature.
Laura M. Slatkin is Gallatin Distinguished Professor in Classical Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies, New York University, Gallatin School and Deptartment of Comparative Literature. She is also Visiting Professor in the Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago. Her research and teaching interests include early Greek epic; wisdom traditions in classical and Near Eastern antiquity; and the reception of Homer.
Janet Spencer-Turner has numerous credits at the National Theatre, and has toured extensively in the UK and internationally.
Kyle Stockburger is a New York City based writer and performer. He has performed at REDCAT, HERE Arts Center, and Dixon Place. He holds an MFA in Acting from CalArts.
Julia Strug is a third-year BFA Acting major with a minor in Film Studies at Illinois Wesleyan University. This semester, she is studying at the British American Drama Academy. Film credits include Antiophobia at the Pinewoods Studio First-Time Filmmaker selection (Actor, Director, Producer, Editor), The Curious Nature of Marquette Greens (Dir. Tom Quinn), Be Well (Dir. Tom Quinn), Pawned In The Dark (Dir. Justin Piotrowski). Stage credits include Kill Climate Deniers (Dir. Dr. Michelle Gibbs), Airline Highway (Dir. Dr. Michelle Gibbs). Multimedia credits include IT Services Tutorial Videos (Illinois Wesleyan University).
Oliver Taplin’s academic career over some 50 years has been devoted to teaching and researching Greek poetry and theatre in performance in ancient and modern times. He has in retirement found the mind-space to embark on translating; his Sophocles’ Antigone and other Tragedies has just been published.
André Teamer has been a Chicago actor for over 30 years. Over the years he has performed with many Chicago theaters including, but not limited to: The Goodman, TimeLine, The Black Ensemble, Steppenwolf, Writer’s Theatre, Victory Gardens, and MPAACT. He is a proud company member of MPAACT(Ma’at Production Association of Afrikan Centered Theatre). Television and film credits include; The Christmas Tree, Love Shorts, Market Value, Spokes, The Playboy Club: Chicago Med, Chicago PD(NBC), Empire(FOX) The CHI(Showtime). André is represented by Paonessa Talent.
Nectarios Theodorou is a Cypriot actor and graduate of the London International School of Performing Arts and he performed in several countries (UK, Scandinavia, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey). His work spans from TV and Theatre to Film and Radio plays. He has performed in a plethora of productions ranging from Greek Tragedy to Musical Theatre and Contemporary Dramas to Comedy and Devised work. He has been nominated for the Best Actor Award for his work in The 39 Steps and he has won the Best Movement Direction Award for the musical The Madame’s Family at the National Theatre Awards in Cyprus in 2014-2015.
Damian Jermaine Thompson is a classically trained stage, film, and television actor. Born in Kingston Jamaica and partly raised in Miami, he now resides in New York City. Mr. Thompson is a 2018 NAACP award winner for his performance in Fly at the Pasadena Playhouse in California, and a 2012 Drammy Award winner for his performance in the Brother/Sister Plays at Portland Playhouse in Oregon. He has had the pleasure of performing for both the Obama’s and the Clinton’s at the Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC and Off-Broadway in New York City. His short film BLACK? (for which he wrote, produced, and co-starred in) won best film at the New York Premiere film festival, and was an official selection at numerous festivals including the International Black Film festival, the Orlando Film Festival, and the Albuquerque Film Festival.
Blake Lopez is a rising senior at Harvard College, where he concentrates in Classics and
Linguistics. Blake serves as Vice President of the Harvard Classical Club, Co-President
of the Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society, and Undergraduate Representative to
Harvard University’s Department of the Classics.
Elena Lu is a rising sophomore at Harvard College where she studies Classics and
Comparative Literature. Her research interests include archaic Greek poetry (epic and
lyric), ancient Greek and Roman drama, performance cultures, Sanskrit epic, and
intertextuality and reception. She is a member of the Harvard Classical Club as well as a
music director for the Harvard Noteables.
Olivia Ma s a rising sophomore at Harvard College where she is planning to study
Classics. Outside of school, Olivia also serves as Junior Director of the Harvard Association for US-China Relations and board administrator of Harvard Radcliffe Modern Dance Company.
Fiona McFerrin-Clancy is a junior at Harvard College studying Classics. Fiona serves as
President of the Harvard Classical Club, and is the Editor-in-Chief of Persephone, the
Harvard Undergraduate Classics Journal. Her research interests include funerary practices
and forms of commemoration in the ancient Mediterranean.
Mac Mertens is a rising sophomore at Harvard College, where he intends to concentrate
in Ancient History with a secondary in Comparative Literature. Mac writes for the
Harvard Political Review, Harvard Undergraduate Law Review, and the Harvard
Crimson. Mac also plays scrum half on the Harvard Rugby Team.
Lucy Nathwani is a rising sophomore at Harvard, and she studies Physics with a
secondary in Classics. Outside of the Classical Club, she is involved with the Harvard
Undergraduate Clean Energy Group and Harvard Radio Broadcasting.
René Thornton Jr is a resident company member with Delaware’s Resident Ensemble Players. For nearly 14 years he was a resident company member with the American Shakespeare Center where he appeared in 118 productions and completed his goal of performing professionally in all of the plays in Shakespeare’s Folio.
Valoneecia Tolbert was most recently in Lisa B Thompson’s Single Black Female as SBF1. Some of her past roles include Lisa B Thompson’s world premier of The Mamalogues as “Beverly”, “Hellena” in Hidden Room’s critically acclaimed The Rover; Actor #6 in the critically acclaimed, We Are Proud.., directed by Liz Fisher, and “Marianne Angel” in The Revolutionists directed by Rudy Ramirez. She is a company member of Hidden Room Theater, Ashe Arts Collective, the Vortex and Shrewd Productions and obtained her BFA from Texas State University at San Marcos. She is represented by Collier Talent Agency.
Jessica Toltzis is an LA-based actor, in her final year at UCLA for her MFA in acting. Most recently, her short film Georgeanne.MOV won Best Mockumentary Micro Film at the Portland Comedy Film Festival.
Angeliki Tzanetou is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include Greek drama, Greek political theory, gender and religion. She is the author of City of Suppliants: Tragedy and the Athenian Empire (University of Texas Press 2012) and co-editor of Illinois Classical Studies.
Anna Uhlig is Associate Professor of Classics at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on the performance culture of Greek lyric and dramatic poetry. She is author of Theatrical Reenactment in Pindar and Aeschylus (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and coeditor (with Richard Hunter) of Imagining Reperformance in Ancient Culture: Studies in the Traditions of Drama and Lyric (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and (with Lyndsay Coo) of Aeschylus at Play: Studies in Aeschylean Satyr Drama, a themed issue of the Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies (2019).
Sara Valentine is a professor and the department chair of theatre at the University of Southern Maine, outside Portland, Maine. She teaches courses in acting, voice/speech, and professional development. She is co-founder of Really Inventive Stuff, a vaudeville-inspired theatre company that creates family programming with symphony orchestras throughout North America.
Noree Victoria is an actor, writer, and the Vice-Chair of New Filmmakers Los Angeles. She holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Creative Writing, Biology, and African Studies and a Master of Science degree in Applied Information Technology. An alumna of the University of Maryland, BADA, and the New York Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts, she has most recently appeared in Little, American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson, and Queen Sugar.
Eirene Visvardi is Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Wesleyan University. Her earlier work focused on Greek drama and its role in ancient intellectual and political life. In her book Emotion in Action: Thucydides and the Tragic Chorus (Brill 2015), she suggests that the choral discourse of the emotions constructs a variety of ways to experience, envision, and practice social and political participation. Currently she is working on a set of questions that bring classical antiquity into dialogue with contemporary law and legal theory, with special focus on discourses of truth and approaches to privacy and surveillance, accountability and state power, and citizen participation in legal institutions.
Johanna Warren is a singer/songwriter and actor who has lived a nomadic life on tour. To date she has released five solo albums under her own name. She currently lives in rural Wales where she enjoys growing vegetables and foraging for wild medicinal plants.
Erika L. Weiberg is an assistant professor of Classical Studies at Duke University. She has published on Greek tragedy and is currently completing a book on the wives of returning veterans in Greek drama. Her research interests center on feminist approaches to antiquity.
Naomi Weiss is Gardner Cowles Associate Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. She is the author of The Music of Tragedy: Performance and Imagination in Euripidean Theater (University of California Press, 2018) and co-editor (with Margaret Foster and Leslie Kurke) of Genre in Archaic and Classical Greek Poetry: Theories and Models (Brill, 2019) and (with Lauren Curtis) of Music and Memory in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming). She has published numerous articles on ancient Greek drama and musical culture, and is currently writing a book on the phenomenology of theatrical spectatorship in classical Athens.
Jack Whitam has numerous credits with the RSC and has recently played Macbeth for the Guildford Shakespeare Company.
Paul Woodruff is a classicist, professor of philosophy, and dean at The University of Texas at Austin. He is best known for his work on Socrates, Plato, and philosophy of theater. A beloved professor, he often teaches courses outside his Ancient Greek Philosophy specialty, including literature courses and specialty seminars, often for the Plan II Honors program. He has also written on topics in aesthetics and ethics and translated works by Euripides, Sophocles, and Thucydides. His recent publications include The Garden of Leaders (Oxford University Press, 2019), The Necessity of Theater (Oxford University Press, 2008), The Ajax Dilemma (Oxford University Press, 2011), and Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue (2d Edition, Oxford University Press, 2014).
Argyris Xafis graduated from the National School of Dramatic Arts in Greece, and has performed ancient tragedies numerous times in Epidaurus. He has won several awards for his cinema and stage work and he’s also an acting professor at Athens Conservatory Drama School.
Dr. Maria G. Xanthou, FHEA, is CHS Research Associate in Pindaric Studies and Resilience Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol. Her research publications focus on community resilience of past and modern societies, ancient and modern leadership, and Greek lyric poetry. She taught Classics and Ancient History at university level in Greece, Cyprus and UK.
Florence Yoon, Associate Professor of Greek language and literature at the University of British Columbia. She is interested in the construction of characters in genres that depend on traditional mythology, particularly Greek Tragedy. This includes areas such as: Silent figures, offstage figures, and the representation of the absent, anonymity and naming and, the transformation of traditional mythical figures into unique literary characters.