Classics hosts NEH Summer Institute in 2012

Murphey Hall is ringing with Latin meter, clever slaves, braggart soldiers and cooks, enticing courtesans, and shouting fathers: a group of 25 participants -- 22 professors and three graduate students -- are studying and experimenting with aspects of performance of Roman Comedy during the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Summer Institute at The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. From June 24 to July 20, participants will create multiple performance versions of scenes from Plautus and Terence, experimenting with the effect of different choices of staging, actors, translation, choreography, and more. Visiting faculty will provide particular expertise for the event.

UNC Classics Prof. Sharon L. James explained, "Our overarching questions are: how can a genre that is so incredibly fun also sometimes be so troubling? Would Romans respond the same way we do to scenes we find funny or disturbing? What do these ancient plays have to say to our own society?"

Co-directors are Prof. James and Prof. Timothy J. Moore, a  graduate of the department's Ph.D. program and a John and Penelope Biggs distinguished professor of Classics in Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Ted Gellar-Goad, a recent UNC Classics doctoral graduate, will use his expertise in Roman Comedy and his musical talent to compose original music for the performances.

Videotaped performances will be available on the web and by DVD by mid-August 2012.

Visit the NEH Institute website to learn more about this event.

For further information, e-mail either Sharon James or Timothy Moore (tmoore@artsci.wustl.edu)