In this, my final report as Vice President for the Division of Outreach, I am grateful for the opportunity to look back over the past four years as well as to look ahead, and to thank the many individuals who have generously contributed time, talents and energies to Outreach activities. I am pleased to report on a wide array of projects organized by the three committees under the purview of Outreach—the Outreach Committee itself, the Committee on Classical Tradition and Reception (COCTR), and the Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance (CAMP)—as well as on the SCS publication Amphora.
Amphora: The current Editor and Assistant Editor of Amphora, T. Davina McClain of Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University, and Diane Johnson of Western Washington University, will be stepping down from their positions in January 2012. I would like to thank them both for the TLC (tempus, labor, cura) that they have given to the journal during their years of service. Amphora is an important voice for SCS Outreach, and for the SCS itself, testimony to the many and diverse engagements of our members with those both inside and outside the classics community who share our interest in the Greco-Roman past.
Efforts to hire a new editor and assistant editor began with the appointment of a search committee at the January 2011 annual meeting, and came to happy fruition in June, when the Board approved the appointment of Dr. Ellen Bauerle, University of Michigan Press, as Editor and Dr. Wells Hansen, Milton Academy, as Assistant Editor, effective January 2012.
Ellen has for several years worked as the editor for classics and archaeology at the University of Michigan Press. She also oversees book production for the not-for-profit Michigan Classical Press, and in the past has created and sold e-books on the web. Recipient of a BA in Greek and English from Oberlin College, and an MA and PhD in Classics from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, she has been an Eric P. Newman Fellow at the American Numismatic Society and Seymour Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens. Ellen is delighted that Amphora is evolving to include the latest technologies, as additional ways of reaching its key constituencies among interested non-specialists, scholars, teachers and students at the secondary level, and administrators.
In addition to his role as housemaster at Milton Academy outside of Boston, where he manages the academic and social programs of about forty students each year, Wells teaches in Milton’s classics department. He also works with university partners and private clients in Asia to promote talent identification and development, especially in math and science. After earning his BA in classics at the University of Chicago, Wells received his doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. A longstanding SCS member, he has published numerous journal articles about classical topics, especially Roman poetry. Wells has a particular interest in developing the visibility of Amphora in social media and in social aspects of the web.
Both Ellen and Wells have had opportunities to discuss best practices and the status of the current Amphora issue with the outgoing editors and with SCS Executive Director Adam Blistein and Information Architect Samuel Huskey, University of Oklahoma. Ellen and Wells are developing a short strategic plan of possible recurring columns and materials that will be discussed with Amphora’s advisory board, and they have been talking with a few authors of possible Amphora contributions. In addition, group conversations are also helping to define best media for possible Amphora contributions, and what kinds of materials are better left to the SCS website and/or its blog.
I greatly enjoyed chairing the Amphora Editors’ Search Committee. Many thanks to my fellow committee members for their efforts in identifying and selecting these two talented colleagues: Adam Blistein (ex officio); Barbara Weiden Boyd, Bowdoin College; Matthew Dillon, Loyola Marymount College; John Gruber-Miller, Cornell College; T. Davina McClain (ex officio); Kathryn Morgan, University of California at Los Angeles.
There are other ongoing initiatives in the area of outreach that warrant attention as well, since they bring both classical antiquity and the SCS to a wider audience. The first, moreover, numbers the SCS among its partnering sponsors.
Update on Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives: In 2010 Peter Meineck, Artistic Director of the Aquila Theatre Company and clinical professor at New York University’s Center for Ancient Studies, received a highly prestigious Chairman’s Special Award of $800,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. One of the two largest grants made by the NEH that year—and indeed the sole grant in this category made to a theater company—it was also the largest award that the NEH has ever given to any theater company. The award is funding “Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives (AGML)”, a major national humanities program slated to travel to one hundred public libraries and arts centers across the USA. Its mission is to bring the writings and insights of Greco-Roman antiquity to communities of veterans and their families in inner cities and rural areas. Peter Meineck is overseeing this program in conjunction with the Society for Classical Studeis, the Urban Library Council, Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington, D.C. and New York University’s Center for Ancient Studies. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to SCS Outreach through Aquila and his NEH-funded programs, he was awarded the 2010 SCS Outreach Scholarly Award at the 2011 SCS meeting.
As of May 31, 2011, AGML has produced the following forty successful events reaching approximately 37,622 Americans: 8 reading group sessions (144 people); 6 acting workshops (120 people); 14 public lectures (325 people); 12 staged readings of scenes from Greek drama (742 people), 12 post-performance discussions with local scholars (550 people); a conference at New York University; 12,689 Program Essay Recipients; Website visits by 22,575 people.
The programming has occurred at: Mount Kisco Public Library, Mount Kisco, NY; Poughkeepsie Public Library, Poughkeepsie, NY; Queens Library, Queens, NY; Utica Public Library, Utica, NY; Richland County Public Library, Columbia, SC; Hemmerdinger Hall at New York University, NYC, NY; Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts, The University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS; The University of Mississippi Museum, Oxford, MS; J.E. Broyhill Civic Center, Lenoir, NC; The Palace Theatre, Marion, OH; Folsom Lake College Performing Arts Center, Folsom, CA; Oates Park Arts Center, Fallon, NY; Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, CA; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA; Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, NYC, NY.
AGML has selected the following as Program Scholars for the first round of programming sessions. They will be presenting talks on the program themes, moderate staged readings of themes from Greek drama, and lead book and film discussion groups during the 2011-2012 academic year: Jana Adamitis, Christopher Newport University; James Andrews, Ohio University; Randall Childree, Union College; Jaclyn Dudek, Wayne State University; Eric Dugdale, Gustavus Adolphus College; Anne Duncan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Emily Fairey, Queens College and Sarah Lawrence College; Mary-Kay Gamel, University of California, Santa Cruz; Judith P. Hallett, University of Maryland, College Park; Daniel B. Levine, University of Arkansas; Mike Lippman, University of Arizona; Sally MacEwen, Agnes Scott College: Laura McClure, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Temple University; Timothy Moore, University of Texas-Austin; Corinne Ondine Pache, Trinity University; Nancy Rabinowitz, Hamilton College: Patrice Rankine, Purdue University; Diane Rayor, Grand Valley State College; Brent Michael Rogers, Gettysburg College; David Schenker, University of Missouri; Niall Slater, Emory University; Nancy Sultan, Illinois Wesleyan University; James Svendsen, University of Utah; Gonda Van Steen, University of Florida; Timothy Wutrich, Case Western Reserve University.
The AGML consultants, who have written scholarly essays on the four programming themes, are: Daniel Banks, Director of the Hip Hop Theatre Initiative, Faculty, City University of New York, “From Homer to Hip Hop: The Art of Storytelling,” Paul Cartledge, Cambridge University, “Rites of Passage: Changing Worlds, Transforming Lives,” Mary R. Lefkowitz, Wellesley College, “Stranger in aStrange Land: Encountering the Other,} Lawrence Tritle, Loyola Marymount University; “Homecoming: Return ofthe Warrior”
These essays are being distributed to all program participants, and are available online at http://ancientgreeksmodernlives.org/themes. Nancy Tessman, Director Emerita, Salt Lake City Library, is in charge of Venue Coordination.
The members of the AGML Advisory Board are Susan B. Benton, President, Urban Libraries Council; Judith P. Hallett, Professor of Classics, University of Maryland, College Park and SCS Vice-President, Outreach; Jay Kaplan, Director of Programs and Exhibitions, Brooklyn Public Library; Gregory Nagy, Professor of Classics, Harvard University, and Director, Center for Hellenic Studies; Matthew S. Santirocco, Professor of Classics and Associate Provost of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, New York University; Paul B. Woodruff, Dean and Professor of Philosophy, University of Texas, Austin.
Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives was officially inaugurated by Combat Trauma on the Ancient Stage: a conference hosted by Aquila Theatre, the NYU Center for Ancient Studies and Humanities Initiative and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, on Wednesday, April 20 and Thursday, April 21, 2011. It featured talks by several prominent humanities scholars. David Konstan, Professor of Classics, New York University, delivered the keynote address, “Denying Combat Trauma: The MissingDiagnosis in Ancient Greece.” Konstan was followed by: “Women After War. Weaving Nostos in HomericEpic and in the 21st Century” by Corinne Pache; “Performing Greek Tragedy at GITMO:Excavating an Ancient Audience” by Bryan Doerries, Artistic Director, Theatre of War Productions; “Recollections of Combat Trauma in the Dialogues of Plato” by S. Sara Monoson, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern University; “When war is performed, what do soldiers see and hear, thinkand say—or not say”? by Thomas Palaima, Professor of Classics and Director, Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory, University of Texas, Austin.; “Of Dreamers and Ravished Minds: Surviving War, SurvivingTrauma” by Lawrence Tritle.
The conference also featured a staged reading of passages from Homer’s Odyssey, Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Sophocles’ Ajax, and Euripides’ Herakles with Deborah Rush (Julie and Julia, TV’s Spin City), Brian Delate (Far From Heaven, TV’s Law and Order), with members of the Aquila Theatre Company, Michele Vazquez, Jay Painter, James Knight, John Buxton and Jeffrey Golde. It culminated in a post-show discussion following Aquila’s production of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters In Search of An Author at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts with panelists Peter Meineck, S. Sara Monoson, Thomas Palaima, Lawrence Tritle and Desiree Sanchez, the play’s director.
The Aquila Staff is currently solidifying dates for the second year of programming to occur during the 2011/2012 season at the following locations (listed chronologically): Richmondtown Library, Staten Island, NY; Harlem Library, NYC, NY; Belmont Library, Bronx, NY; Queens Library, Flatbush, NY; Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, NY; Tuckahoe Public Library, Tuckahoe, NY; Hartford Public Library, Hartford, CT; Denver Public Library, Denver, CO; Pueblo City Library, Pueblo, CO; Pikes Peak Library, Manitou Springs, CO; Athens County Library System, Athens, OH; Licking County Library, Newark, OH; Twinsburg Public Library, Twinsburg, OH; Stark Library, Stark, OH; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids, MI; American Theatre, Hampton, VA; Miller Center for the Arts, Reading, PA; University of Wisconsin Whitewater, Whitewater, WI; Skokie Public Library, Skokie, IL; Missouri State University, Springfield, MO; Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS; Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence, KS; Terrebonne Public Library System, Houma, LA; Jefferson Parish Public Library, Metairie, LA; Manship Theatre, Baton Rouge, LA; Warren County Memorial Library, Warrenton, NC; District of Columbia Public Library, Washington, DC; Prince George’s County Memorial Library, Hyattsville, MD; Piedmont Arts Association, Martinsville, VA; Palm Beach Public Library, Palm Beach, FL; University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC; Chuck Mathena Center, Princeton, NC; University of Missouri Rolla, Rolla, MO; Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, Topeka, KS; Cam Plex, Gillette, WY; Parks County Arts, Cody, WY: Carpenter Center California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California; Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA; County of Los Angeles Public Library, Los Angeles, CA; San Diego Public Library, San Diego, CA; Kern County Library, Bakersfield, CA; Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento, CA; Fresno County Public Library, Fresno, CA; Harris County Public Library, Houston, TX; Austin Public Library, Austin, TX; Lancaster Veterans, Dallas, TX; Dallas Center for the Book, Dallas, TX; San Antonio Public Library, San Antonio, TX; Memphis Public Library, Memphis, TN; Chattahoochee Valley Libraries, Columbus, GA; Atlanta Fulton County Library, Atlanta, GA; West Palm Beach Public Library, West Palm Beach, FL; Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR; Sno-Isle Libraries, Marysville, WA.
The Center for Ancient Studies at NYU has arranged meetings of the program consultants to plan project materials and training, and develop teaching resources for the thematic units. The first group of 27 program scholars was trained at the 2011 SCS Meeting in San Antonio, where they gathered for an in-person workshop. There the scholars became equipped with the tools they needed to liaise successfully with their local public library, and incorporate program themes into their lectures and reading groups.
The program website (ancientgreeksmodernlives.org) hosts podcasts and video clips for reading groups to discuss, further information on each thematic unit, supplementary reading, scholars’ essays, useful web links, details on the productions, production photos, information on the libraries, venues, scholars, consultants and partners. The website also acts as a digital forum for all involved parties to communicate about teaching methodology as it hosts a discussion board and information about the time, dates, and locations of all the program events. The Aquila office has handled travel arrangements, the scheduling of events, and the distribution of materials. Aquila Theatre also facilitates local and national advertising efforts. Publicity materials have been created (bookmarks, banners, essays and posters) and have been distributed to all of the host venues, as well as featured as downloads on the program website and venue websites. These include the scholarly essays on each of the program themes by Daniel Banks, Paul Cartledge, Mary R. Lefkowitz and Lawrence Tritle.
Update on Classical Reception Studies Network: In my capacity as a “private citizen”, I am partnering with Judith Fletcher of Wilfrid Laurier University and S. Sara Monoson of Northwestern on the new North American Classical Reception Studies Network (NACRSN), which will be activated in fall 2011. This collaborative project evolved from an initiative launched by the Classical Reception Studies Network (CRSN), based at the Open University (UK), which the Outreach Division, representing the SCS as a whole, joined in 2009 as an Overseas Affiliate Partner. The CRSN has several overseas affiliate institutions, some of them colleges and universities in the US such as Northwestern; the Australasian Classical Reception Studies Network (ACRSN) is a partner as well, and a model for NACRSN. The main aim of the NACRSN is to establish and maintain a website that will facilitate, keep track of, and heighten awareness of the growth of this research field in North America. Northwestern University will support the technical requirements and arrange for graduate assistants to monitor the site and keep it current. The website will incorporate a directory of North American scholars doing research in classical reception studies, announcements of scholarly conferences, lectures and other events featuring classical reception, and a collection of syllabi and other teaching resources for colleagues developing courses.
Update on Classics in Social Media, and on Listservs and Websites:One of the chief responsibilities of the Outreach Vice-President has been to develop and pursue different strategies for reaching out both within and beyond the professional classics community, first and foremost by collaborating with colleagues around the US and Canada to gather information on classically related events in their geographical regions, and to publicize these events globally as well as locally. I have been working closely with the SCS Information Architect, Samuel Huskey, to provide material for the World of Classics section of the SCS website; I have made similar contributions to The Dionysiac, a listserv announcing classical plays, theatrical events and conferences, run by Hallie Rebecca Marshall of the University of British Columbia. Huskey has, moreover, regularly posted the announcements appearing in the World of Classics section and on The Dionysiac listserv on the SCS Facebook page, which emerged into the luminis oras in December 2010. Our Facebook page also includes important announcements from the SCS itself, and attracts several hundred visitors each week. My deepest appreciation to Sam Huskey and Heather Hartz Gasda of the SCS office for getting our Facebook page up and running, and for maintaining the initial momentum.
Update on Rosters of Musical and Performance Classicists: During 2010 Outreach launched two rosters: one of classicists with backgrounds in musical performance and the history of music; the other of classicists with backgrounds in theatrical performance and in classical performance receptions. In compiling the roster of “musical classicists”, which now numbers 36 individuals from North America and beyond, we were especially eager to identify colleagues who would be willing to share their knowledge of both music and classical antiquity with individuals writing or performing works that are set in the ancient Greco-Roman world, draw on ancient Greek and Latin literary texts, or feature classical figures and themes.
For the roster of “performance classicists”, we sought to identify colleagues willing to share their knowledge of classical antiquity and performance with individuals who are considering staging works that are set in the Greco-Roman world, draw on Greek or Latin literary texts, and/or feature classical figures and themes, in the areas of drama, music and dance. We also assumed, accurately, that the senior scholars listed in this roster—which now numbers 33 individuals—might be asked to assess “classical performances” staged by faculty members under review for tenure and promotion, and publications about such performances. Special thanks to Ted Gellar-Goad, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, for helping to conceptualize, publicize and coordinate these two rosters.
The various committees in the Outreach division have planned a number of exciting events for the 2012 SCS meeting in Philadelphia. Each is described in the report submitted by the respective chair.
Outreach Committee (Chair, Judith P. Hallett): For the SCS meeting in Philadelphia, the Committee on Outreach will present a panel, “Beyond Multiculturalism: Classical Africana and the Universalization of the Classical Experience.” Organized by Dr. Eugene O’Connor, Ohio State University Press, and myself, it will feature five papers:
- Barbara Goff, University of Reading, “Niobe of the Nations: Classical Metaphors in the Writings of 19th Century West African Nationalists”
- Daniel Orrells, University of Warwick, “Molora: Greek Tragedy and South African Democracy”
- Margaret Malamud, University of New Mexico, “The Uses of Antiquity in Antebellum African-American History”
- Heidi Morse, University of California at Santa Cruz, “Figural Rhetoric: Anna Julia Cooper’s Ciceronian Transformations”
- Mathias Hanses, Columbia University, “E Pluribus Unum: Moving Classica Africana from ‘Classicists’ to ‘Classicism’”
Kenneth Goings, The Ohio State University, will deliver a response.
The call for papers yielded fifteen abstracts, many of extremely high quality. Special thanks are due to Eugene O’Connor and the referees: Kenneth Goings, and Denise McCoskey, Miami University (Ohio).
This year the Committee on Outreach has lent its sponsorship to another panel at the SCS meeting in Philadelphia, entitled “Abstracting Classics: Cy Twombly, Modern Art and the Ancient World.” Organized by Richard Fletcher of the Ohio State University, and planned long before Twombly’s death this past July, the panel features five leading and international art and cultural historians and classicists: Nicholas Cullinan, Carol Nigro, Ahuvia Kahane, Tim Rood, and Mary Jacobus. It will be held in conjunction with an event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which includes a tour of Twombly’s series “50 Days at Iliam”[sic], a permanent exhibition at the museum.
In addition, the Committee is among the sponsors of “Re-Creation: Musical Reception of Classical Antiquity,” a conference held from October 27-30 at the University of Iowa. Co-organized by Robert Ketterer of Iowa and Andrew Simpson of the Catholic University of America, it had its genesis in the 2011 SCS Outreach panel on “The Children of Orpheus: How Composers Receive Ancient Texts.” The conference includes sessions on “Musical Theater/Music in Theater”, “Theoretical and Philosophical Issues”, “19th and 20th Century Opera”, “Early Opera,” “Stage Practice”, “Film”, and “The Twentieth Century.” Among the presenters at these sessions are Thomas Jenkins, Trinity University; Peter Burian, Duke University; Mary-Kay Gamel, University of California, Santa Cruz; and Jon Solomon, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana; 46 abstracts were submitted, of which only 25 could be accepted. Many more than were accepted were of very high quality, and the choice was difficult. The conference also features public lectures by Wendy Heller, Princeton University and Simon Goldhill, King’s College, Cambridge; a concert by the Center for New Music; a performance of Peri’s Euridice; and a showing of silent films on classical themes with live piano accompaniment by Andrew Simpson.
In November, committee member Keely Lake, Wayland Academy, will be presenting a paper on National Latin Teacher Recruitment Week (NLTRW) at the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Meeting in Denver. The SCS is helping to fund the grants provided by NLTRW.The topic of the Outreach panel for the 2013 SCS meeting in Seattle will be ancient and modern sport. Paul Christesen of Dartmouth College and Garrett Fagan of the Pennsylvania State University will be the co-organizers. I would like to thank Mary-Kay Gamel and Toph Marshall, University of British Columbia, for their work in planning the panel so far. A call for papers will go out in October.
Committee on Ancient and Modern Performance (Chair, Dorota Dutsch, University of California, Santa Barbara): Chair Dorota Dutsch has written the following report:CAMP will be sponsoring a panel entitled “Theater on the Move” at the 2012 SCS Meeting in Philadelphia. It features four papers:
- Kathryn Bosher, Northwestern University, “Regionalism in Ancient Greek Drama”
- Anne E. Duncan, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, “Alexander the Great’s Traveling Road Show”
- George W. Mallory Harrison, Concordia University, “Hercules on Oeta: Not a Stoic S(t)age”.
- Sissi Liu, City University of New York Graduate Center, “Musicalized Antigone on Tour”
Performance in the ancient world involved travel and “transport” in many different senses. Athenian dramas were exported to Sicily, southern Italy, and other parts of the Mediterranean, especially during the 4th century BCE, where they were performed for non-Athenian audiences and adopted into local cultural canons. In more recent times and to this day, travel and transport have figured prominently in the productions of ancient plays, especially those belonging to the touring repertory of troupes such as Le Theatre du Soleil (Les Atrides) and the National Theatre of Greece. These papers will address the effect of travel and transport on productions from four different periods and situations: classical and Hellenistic Greece, the Roman Empire and the international theater scene of the past thirty years.
CAMP has assisted in the relocation of the online journal Didaskalia to its new home at Randolph College, under the editorship of CAMP member Amy R. Cohen. The College has provided office space and a budget, and the journal is now also staffed with as assistant editor, Jay Kardan, and a student intern (Gage Stuntz for 2011-2012). Toph Marshall remains as associate editor for executive decision-making. The journal’s new phone number is +1 434 937-8117. In the first six months since the relaunch of Didaskalia, the journal has published sixteen reviews, interviews and articles—and many more are in process. Until the journal sets up an RSS feed, readers can stay informed of new publications on Facebook (“Like” facebookcom/Didaskalia.net) or Twitter (@DidaskaliaEd). CAMP has helped raise awareness of the journal itself, staff its editorial and advisory boards, and establish regular communications between the journal and the committee.
The 2012 performance at the SCS meeting in Philadelphia, to be held on Friday, January 6, will be The Jurymen, a new “Aristophanic” play about the last days of Socrates. Directed by Amy R. Cohen, the play is by her former student Katherine Janson; this will be its debut performance since the play was published. The call for participants has yielded over a dozen responses from both regular cast members and new blood, and Cohen will be organizing the cast and crew during the fall in advance of rehearsals o begin on Wednesday, January 4. The Committee has issued a call for directors of future performances, and is revising the policies connected with its call for directors and play selection procedures.
Working with the Vice-President for Outreach, CAMP is planning to collaborate with the European Network of Research and Documentation of Performances of Ancient Greek Drama. It hopes in particular to bring their summer courses to the attention of US students.
A workshop at the 2012 Philadelphia SCS meeting, organized by Dorota Dutsch and Nancy Rabinowitz, Hamilton College, is the result of several CAMP discussions. Entitled “Classics in Action: How to Engage with the Public,” it features four different presentations on how the discipline and profession of Classics may increase their engagement with the non-specialist public. All will ask what it means to be a publicly engaged classicist, identify successful public engagement initiatives, and consider the kinds of initiatives that the SCS might develop in the future.
- Judith P. Hallett will describe several current SCS Outreach activities as well as a UK initiative, “Communicating Ancient Greece and Rome: New Public Engagement Training Programme for Classics PhD Students”
- Peter Meineck will discuss his NEH-funded project, Ancient Greeks/Modern Lives, and its use of public libraries as venues for reaching underserved populations.
- Jana Adamitis, Christopher Newport University, and Mary-Kay Gamel will focus on the value of dramatic performances for inspiring interest in the ancient world.
- Nancy Rabinowitz will examine prison education programs and the classics.
The 2013 CAMP panel will be organized by Marianne Hopman, Northwestern University, on the topic “Bodies in Motion: Collective Approaches to Choral Dancing.” The collective movements of the chorus played a crucial part, for which our evidence has mostly been lost, in the ancient experience of Greek drama. The proposed panel will explore a range of scholarly approaches to and creative re-imaginings of choral dancing as a physical element of classical dramatic performance since 1800.
Finally, a core issue for CAMP since the committee’s founding has been advocating for the recognition of performance as a major research and professional endeavor. One important form of recognition would be the creation of a North American Performance Archive. In 2009 the Research Division of the SCS established a task force to consider the question of such an archive. In 2010, as a result of a report submitted by this task force, the SCS reappointed its three members—Toph Marshall, Kathryn Bosher, and Mary-Kay Gamel— as a review committee to consider proposals for an SCS- supported archive.
This committee issued a report in early 2011. It recommended support for an external proposal submitted by New York University. CAMP is delighted about this welcome initiative, and has been communicating with Executive Director Adam Blistein and Vice President for Research Roger Bagnall, New York University, concerning guidelines for establishing such an archive, and also about formulating criteria for assessing the work of scholar-practitioners in the area of performance.
Committee on Classical Tradition and Reception (Chair, Thomas Jenkins, Trinity University):
At its meeting on Sunday, January 9, 2011, the SCS Board of Directors voted to approve a request from the Committee on the Classical Tradition to change its name to the Committee on Classical Tradition and Reception, and thereby more accurately represent the range of research, teaching and professional activity focused on responses by later cultures to texts and materials from Greek and Roman antiquity.
Chair Thomas Jenkins has written the following report:
The newly renamed COCTR has now adopted a two-year schedule for the planning and implementation of its panels at the SCS; for January 2012, the topic is “Antiquity in Action: Tradition, Reception and the Boundaries of Classical Studies.” The occasion of the committee’s change-of-acronym seemed a fitting time to take a snapshot of classical tradition and classical reception studies as a field: considering both where research and teaching in this area have been, and where they are going. The panel thus explores the dominant methodologies of classical tradition and reception studies and suggests further areas of exploration, in matters both theoretical and geopolitical. The first two papers, by editors of major compendia on tradition/reception, issue some provocative calls for change, as they examine the strengths and weakness of current scholarly trends. The last two papers emphasize the urgency of analyzing modern, ideologically charged receptions of antiquity: these are post-colonial appropriations that materially, and not just theoretically, affect the world around us. The papers in this session are:
- Craig Kallendorf, Texas A and M University, “Vergil, Reception and Book History”
- Glenn Most, Scuola Normale di Pisa and the University of Chicago, “Bifocal Reception: Hecuba vs. The Trojan Women”
- Konstantinos P. Nikoloutsos, St. Joseph’s University, “In Defense of ‘Reception’: Vergil, Syncretism, and Early Postcolonial Argentine Dramaturgy.”
- Madeleine Henry, Iowa State University, “The Other Side of Atlantis”
David Scourfield, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, will deliver a response.
The proposed panel for January 2013, “Islamic and Arabic Receptions of Greek Literature,” organized by committee member Paul Kimball, Billkent University, Anakara, Turkey, builds on the panel for 2012, and looks at a specific and resonant geopolitical reception of the classical world. The panel seeks to understand the specific contexts, localities, and periods within which the Arabic reception of Greek literature occurred by examining the place of Islam as such in the process, selection, translation, adaptation and even rejection of classical texts. We are hopeful that this panel in Seattle will also attract audiences from local universities and community organizations, and help achieve the larger goals of the SCS Outreach Division.
COCTR member Konstantinos Nikoloutsos is organizing a panel entitled “Postcolonial Latin American Adaptations of Greek and Roman Drama” at the 2012 annual SCS meeting. The panel was first presented at a regional level at the 2010 annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Atlantic States; the papers will be published in a forthcoming special issue of Romance Quarterly (58.4). The SCS panel includes papers on reworkings of Sophocles’ Antigone, Euripides’ Hippolytus, and Plautus’ Amphitruo from countries as diverse as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico as well as Puerto Rico. Speakers include Jesse Weiner, University of California, Irvine; Jacques Bromberg, Colby College; Rosa Andujar, Princeton University; Katie Bilotte, Royal Holloway College, University of London; and Roderigo Goncalves, Federal University of Panama/Universite Paris-Sorbonne. Lorna Hardwick, Open University, will serve as the respondent.
Final Thoughts. It has been a pleasure and honor to serve as Vice-President for the Division of Outreach, first in an acting capacity when Outreach was first founded in 1999, and again from January 2008 through January 2012. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Executive Director Adam Blistein for making so many of our enterprises possible and operational. Thanks to the endeavors, enthusiasm and creativity of countless SCS volunteers, my report about Outreach activities and accomplishments has gotten longer each year (and in fact what I write here is an abbreviated version of what I originally planned to submit!). I am certain that my successors will have even more to report as time goes by.
Respectfully Submitted,
Judith P. Hallett
Vice President for Outreach, 2008-2012