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Lecture: "Tragedies for the Pandemic” —Bryan Doerries, Artistic Director, Theater of War Productions
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Thu, Sep 24.2020
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At the beginning of the pandemic, Theater of War Productions, a social impact company that had spent years performing ancient plays in unlikely places—hospitals, military bases, homeless shelters, and prisons—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, global discussion about the impact of COVID-19 on individuals, families, and communities. In the weeks and months that have followed, Theater of War Productions has presented more than a dozen performances on Zoom—projects based on Shakespeare’s King Lear, the Biblical Book of Job, and Sophocles’ Antigone and Women of Trachis—for an ever-expanding international audience. Now, Theater of War Productions turns its attention to Kenyon College, where it will launch a year-long virtual residency this fall.
In his lecture, “Tragedies for the Pandemic,” Theater of War Productions’ Artistic Director and Kenyon alumnus 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.
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Explore Projects
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Domestic ViolencePatient and Impatient GriseldaTheater of War Productions and Margaret Atwood return to the Toronto International Festival of Authors with an exciting new collaboration exploring power and control, domestic violence, and family dynamics by way of two versions of the same story, one written by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1348 during the bubonic plague and the other by Atwood in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In Bocaccio’s version, a woman named Griselda remains in an abusive and controlling relationship, showing great patience and forbearance in the face of her husband’s sadism and cruelty. In Atwood’s version, Griselda takes matters in her own hands and, with the help of her sister, turns the tables on her husband.
This free, public event featured a live, dramatic reading of the “Patient Griselda” story from Boccaccio's Decameron by Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Fleishman is in Trouble), Maev Beaty (Beau is Afraid, Mouthpiece), and Araya Mengesha (Tiny Pretty Things, Nobody). Then, in response, Margaret Atwood performed “Impatient Grisleda,” a story that is narrated to a group of humans in quarantine by an alien that looks like an octopus. The readings of both texts was followed by immediate responses by community panelists and culminated in a guided audience discussion, facilitated by Bryan Doerries (Artistic Director, Theater of War Productions).
Co-presented by Theater of War Productions and Toronto International Festival of Authors.
This hybrid presentation took place in person at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre Theatre and on Zoom Webinar on September 30, 2023.
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Domestic ViolenceMedeaMedea timelessly depicts how scorned passion can lead to revenge and, sometimes, unthinkable violence. This project, which premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in June 2016, delves into under-discussed mental health issues that affect women and their families.
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RacismA REFUTATIONA REFUTATION presents dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of excerpts from two conflicting historic accounts of Philadelphia’s 1793 yellow fever epidemic as a catalyst for guided audience discussions about health inequities in America today, grounded in the perspectives of nurses, caregivers, and first responders.