Theater of War Productions, a social impact company that had spent years performing ancient plays in unlikely places — hospitals, homeless shelters, etc. — has pivoted to Zoom. Their first online outing, The Oedipus Project, gathered more than 15,000 people from over 40 countries for a virtual performance of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King" featuring Oscar Isaac, Frances McDormand, John Turturro, Jeffrey Wright and others, culminating in a facilitated discussion about the impact of COVID-19. Theater of War has since presented more than a dozen performances on Zoom based on Shakespeare's "King Lear," the Book of Job, and Sophocles' "Antigone" and "Women of Trachis."
This event launches a yearlong Theater of War Productions virtual residency at Kenyon.
In this lecture, "Tragedies for the Pandemic," Artistic Director Bryan Doerries '98 will describe how he and his company have used ancient tragedies to empower thousands of people all over the world to engage in vital, democratic, pluralistic discussions about some of the most challenging issues of our time, including racialized violence, healthcare inequality and the moral suffering of frontline medical providers.
Register at towkenyon.eventbrite.com using the password kenyon.
For more about Theater of War Productions' work, please see the recent New Yorker profile "Can Greek Tragedy Get Us Through the Pandemic?"