Syracuse Stage will hold an online panel discussion, “Medea and the Moment,” on Monday, June 8, at 7 p.m. to discuss issues related to current events that are addressed in Euripides’ tragedy. Participants will have the opportunity to contribute questions and comments to the discussion. An online reading of the play was held on June 5.
Moderated by Joann Yarrow, director of community engagement and education, the scheduled seven- member discussion panel includes translator Charles Martin, performers Gillian Glasco (Medea) and Matt Chiorini (Jason), Stage artistic director Robert Hupp, associate artistic director Kyle Bass, “Medea” director April Sweeney and LightWork communications coordinator Cjala Surratt. The discussion will last approximately 45 minutes and may be accessed at https://syracusestage.org/showinfo.php?id=99.
The connections between “Medea” and pressing issues of the day are immediate and multifaceted. Sweeney, the reading’s director and chair of the theater department at Colgate University, says “Euripides’ ancient play ‘Medea’ asks us to (re)consider a series of questions that at heart revolve around issues of injustice: who is deserving of rights in a society, who is valued and matters and at what cost?”
Martin notes, “There are so many aspects of ‘Medea’ that appeal to a modern audience. The character of Medea is wonderfully realized. She is a woman who has been abandoned by her husband (along with their children) and she is a stateless person, a political refugee.”
Originally scheduled as part of the 2019/2020 Cold Read Festival of New Plays, “Medea” moved online when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the festival’s cancellation. Although the Euripides’ tragedy dates from 431 BCE, “Medea” was included in the festival, which is dedicated to new work, because Martin’s new translation was published in 2019 by the University of California Press.
“As a festival and as an entity, ‘Cold Read’ is about introducing our audiences to new plays. For me, it’s exciting to present a nearly 2,500-year-old drama as a new play,” says Bass, who serves as the festival’s curator. “With his fleet and resonant new adaption, poet Charles Martin has made Euripides’ ‘Medea’ fresh and compelling. It speaks convincingly to our now.”
From “yeet” to “social distancing,” new words and phrases constantly emerge and evolve in American English. But how do these neologisms—newly coined terms—gain acceptance and become part of mainstream dialect? We interviewed Christopher Green, associate professor of linguistics in the…
The University Art Museum has received a monumental gift of more than 80 traditional Indian patachitra scrolls, significantly expanding its collection of South Asian art and material culture. The scrolls were donated by Geraldine Forbes, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita at…
In a prestigious international honor, a project by three students from the School of Architecture has been selected for inclusion in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2025, currently on view in London. The work, titled “Evolving an Urban Ecology,” was…
Bucking the trend of streaming music platforms and contrary to what one might expect of a member of his generation, musician Dan Cohen ’25 prefers listening to his favorite artists on compact disc (CD) and record players. His research and…
The College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) has appointed Eleanor Holdridge as the new chair of the Department of Drama effective July 1. Holdridge comes to Syracuse University from the Catholic University of America, where she served as professor…
If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.
