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“Medea” Gets a Makeover
How an ambitious, 代际合作为我们这个时代重新设想了一个经典的希腊悲剧.
四月中旬,古德哈特剧院(Goodhart Theater)的观众们有幸观看了一场《 Media/Medea, an adaptation of Euripides’ Greek tragedy Medea从黑人的角度重新展望21世纪. A week later, a second set of performances took place, 这次是在费城社区学院的黑盒子剧院.
For the student actors and tech crew, 这不仅是一个参加普利策奖获奖剧作家戏剧首演的机会 James Ijames—of Fat Ham 名声——但也是一个与来自不同教育环境的同龄人互动的机会. 参与制作的一半学生来自布林莫尔和哈弗福德,一半来自CCP.
该剧的上演标志着《希腊戏剧/黑人生活》的大结局, 各机构之间为期一年的大规模合作.
As Classics Professor Catherine Conybeare, 谁是资助这个项目的美国学术学会理事会的首席研究员, explains, 希腊戏剧/黑人生活的一个关键目标是“加强中共与布林莫尔之间的联系,并照亮我们今天可以从经典中学到的东西。.”
这出戏是由推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜的戏剧项目制作的, 由联合pi和艺术主席Catharine Slusar领导, who brought Ijames to the project. “Theater, with its ability to share perspectives, is at the core of what it is to be human,” Slusar says. “这个项目用戏剧来画一条从经典到现在的线, challenging us along the way.”
除了这部剧,希腊戏剧/黑人生活项目还包括一部 playwriting class, a partnership with middle schoolers at E.M. 在南费城的斯坦顿学校,进行了理论和经验的结合 graduate seminar.
“詹姆斯·詹姆斯是一位非常杰出的剧作家,他也是我合作过的最慷慨、最善于合作的人之一.” says Conybeare.
Media/Medea 讲述了美狄亚(莫奈·德博斯饰)与丈夫杰森(阿基姆·戴维斯饰)的背叛作斗争,并探讨了这对夫妇十几岁的孩子如何应对他们生活中的剧变.
In transposing Medea to a modern setting, Ijames, 维拉诺瓦大学戏剧系副教授, looked to popular culture for inspiration. The chorus, a mainstay of Greek tragedy, still plays a leading role, 但这一次,他们成了社交媒体谣言工厂的一部分. 对于美狄亚这个角色,詹姆斯的灵感来自于诺玛·戴斯蒙德 Sunset Boulevard, and Porsha Williams from Real Housewives of Atlanta.
“能看到和我来自同一个领域的人真是太好了, especially from the Black perspective.——Michael Mclaughlin,费城社区学院的学生
“Media/Medea is not simply an adaptation; it is a transformation,” says Slusar. “我詹姆斯把这段文字改写成了我们的时代, putting the children in the center of the tragedy. He asks, when a famous couple divorces epically, with every minute captured on social media, what happens to the children?”
这部改编作品在学生演员中引起了深刻的共鸣. “Whether in ancient Greece or modern-day America, certain themes endure,” says Quinn Eli, curriculum coordinator for theater at CCP.
“当你谈到复仇、背叛和混乱对家庭的影响时,” says Eli, 我们当中的人无法轻易想象这对我们自己的家庭产生的影响? 然后再加上社交媒体和那种文化审查的因素, 你得到了一些持续产生共鸣的东西.”
Michael McLaughlin, a CCP theater major, 对此我表示赞同:“我立刻兴奋地做出了回应,因为他的写作方式非常有趣,语言非常简单,却能表达很多东西. 很高兴能看到和我来自同一个领域的人, especially from the Black perspective, 并且能够真正懂得如何在没有很多词语的情况下说很多话.”
“看着这些来自不同院校的学生互相挑战, be celebrated by each other, is really, really exciting.” — Director Raelle Myrick-Hodges
Regan Riehl, 24岁,主修英语辅修戏剧,参与 Media/Medea 和其他演员的调查过程非常有趣. “The more you read it, the more there is to pull out of it and to look at,” says Riehl, who played Glauke, the princess for whom Jason abandons Medea.
“每次一群人开始研究一个全新的东西, it’s magic,” says Raelle Myrick-Hodges, founder of Philadelphia’s Azuka Theatre Company, who directed Media/Medea他补充说,让这一切变得特别神奇的是Bryn Mawr和CCP之间的合作.
“看着这些来自不同院校的学生互相挑战, be celebrated by each other, is really, really exciting,” she says. “他们带来的是对作家作品的新理解, 因为你有15个人,他们都有不同的想法.”
Lead artist Akeem Davis, 他是巴里摩尔奖和哈斯奖的获奖演员,曾在CCP和BMC任教,扮演杰森, was equally invigorated by the collaboration.
“我认为学生们意识到,到目前为止,他们的大学经历非常不同,” says Davis, 所以这个过程很大程度上是关于他们了解到他们的生活可能非常不同,也可能没有那么不同,并且能够欣赏这两种实现.”
Eli notes that at CCP, the Media/Medea 项目不仅促进了与Bryn Mawr的合作,
而且是在大学的不同学科之间. “In this way, 我们的戏剧学生参与了一个完整的学术体验, 一个是通过强调批判性分析的价值来装备他们追求艺术事业, interpersonal communication, and professional development.”
该项目恢复并加强了Bryn Mawr和CCP之间的联系, following the restrictions imposed by COVID, were at “exceptionally challenging moments,” says Conybeare.
“在一个以黑人家庭为中心的项目中如此充分地合作,并且在使用古希腊故事方面如此富有创造性,令人兴奋,” she says, 事实证明,这对两家机构都大有裨益.”