About the project
End of Life
Dramatic Reading of Women of Trachis + Philoctetes, by Sophocles
Translated and Directed by Bryan Doerries
End of Life presents readings of ancient Greek plays in public settings and medical communities as a catalyst for facilitated discussions about challenges faced by patients, families, and health professionals today around end of life care. This unique, participatory event is intended to promote powerful, open discussion among diverse communities - public and professional - fostering compassion, cooperation, and understanding about living with chronic suffering and the mortality we all share.
I think we all have to acknowledge that dying, the moment of death, is always going to be fearful and mysterious. And no matter how much you believe in the afterlife, or in rebirth, or the peace of the grave, everybody dies. And it’s okay that it happens. But there is no way that death isn’t going to rupture your reality. And that calls into question what it means to be you. What does it mean for all of us to be mortal? And what does it mean to be a doctor when everyones mortal? Facing those questions is not necessarily comfortable.
About the plays
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Women of Trachis by Sophocles
Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, tells the story of Heracles—the strongest of all Greek heroes—who has been unintentionally poisoned by his wife, Deineira, after she discovers that he has fallen in love with a younger woman. In an attempt to win back her husband’s affection mistakes a lethal toxin, which was given to her by a dying centaur years ago for a love potion. Deineira sends him a robe dipped in the liquid. When Heracles puts on the robe it immediately eats through his skin, muscle tissue, down through his bones to the marrow. Heracles falls to the ground, clutching his sides, crying out in pain, calling for his teenage son, Hyllus, to come to his aid and to help him put an end to the seemingly endless waves of pain.
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Philoctetes by Sophocles
Sophocles’ Philoctetes tells the story of decorated warrior who is abandoned on a deserted island because of mysterious chronic illness that he contracts on the way to the Trojan War. Nine years later, the Greeks learn from an oracle that in order to win the war they must rescue him from the island. When they finally come for him, the wounded warrior must overcome nine long years of festering resentment and shame in order to accept help from the very men who betrayed him.
End of Life Highlights
Charles S. Dutton as Hercules in Women of Trachis
Harvard Medical School / 2010
Screams from Greek stage aim for doctors’ hearts Drama animates issues in Harvard ethics course
Harvard Medical School / 2010
Read the article on Boston.com
Theater of the mind, heart and spirit
Harvard Medical School / 2010
End of Life - Women of Trachis Reading │ IOM Committee on Approaching Death
Chautauqua Institution CHQ Health Care Forum / 2013
Explore Projects
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Pandemic & Climate CrisisThe Oedipus ProjectThe Oedipus Project presents acclaimed actors reading scenes from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King as a catalyst for powerful, constructive, global conversations about the climate crisis, ecological disaster, environmental justice, and healing online conversations about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon diverse communities throughout the world. Sophocles’ ancient play, first performed in 429 BC, just after the first wave of a plague that killed nearly one-third of the Athenian population, is a story of arrogant leadership, ignored prophecy, intergenerational curses, and a pestilence and ecological collapse that ravages the archaic city of Thebes. Seen through this lens, Oedipus the King appears to have been a powerful tool for helping Athenians communalize trauma and loss, while interrogating their own complicit role in the suffering, not just of those around them but of generations to come.
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Domestic ViolenceDomestic Violence ProjectAddressing the impact of domestic violence on individuals, families, and communities, the Domestic Violence Project premiered in Maine in April 2013 and will be touring all five boroughs of New York City under the current PAIR residency.
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Caregiving & DeathThe Susie King Taylor ProjectA dramatic reading of Susie King Taylor's memoir to help frame powerful, guided discussions about challenges faced by Nurses and Veterans.