New York University
Freshman Honors Seminar:
Rediscovering Bacchic Revelry
Spring 2014
Contact Information
Professor: Megan Shea
Email: megan.shea@nyu.edu
Office: 411 Lafayette, Room 404
Course Description
When we think about the staging of ancient Greek theater, we often envision a stagnant stage
where a masked man recites a lengthy monologue in an outdoor theater. But such a vision
hardly describes the dynamic celebration of music, sexuality, and poetry that infused the City
Dionysia and the Lenaia—the festivals centered on tragedy and comedy in 6th-4th Century BCE
Athens. In this seminar, we’ll reimagine the performance of Greek theater by witnessing current
productions of Greek plays, engaging with New York City’s various collections of Greek art
objects, studying contemporary festivals/celebrations, pouring through critical interpretations of
Greek history, and returning to textual evidence (the plays!). Beyond reconstructing our own
understanding of ancient performance, we’ll use the discord between our original scenarios of
Greek performance and our revisions to evaluate how we conceive of Western civilization’s
past. Weekly responses, reviews, a performance/design project, and a final research paper will
help awaken our sense of ancient performative acts.
Required Texts (available at the NYU Bookstore)
Classical Tragedy Greek and Roman, Ed. By Robert W. Corrigan
Sophocles I, edited by David Grene and Richard Lattimore
The Gospel at Colonus by Lee Breuer
Aristophanes: Archarnians, Lysistrata, Clouds translated by Jeffrey Henderson
Two Faces of Oedipus: Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrranus and Seneca’s Oedipus translated by
Frederick Ahl
The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles
Coursepack (CP)
Other readings will take the form of handouts in class or will be posted online through the
library. Please print out all pdfs, and bring them to class with you.
Course Requirements
Weekly Response Papers. The response papers will be based on the readings and subject for the
week. For these papers, you will be asked to closely examine the readings in relationship to a
particular question. You will learn to cite information from the readings and respond to it in a
way that prepares you for the final research paper. Prompts for these assignments will be posted
weekly on NYU Classes under “Assignments.”
Reviews. In this class, we’ll attend two theatrical productions based on Greek texts. For both of
these productions, you will write a review. This review asks you not only to think about the
quality of the production, the acting, the set design etc. but also about the play’s engagement
with the contemporary audience. How is this production interacting with us as audience
members? What does it aim for us to see or know?
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Performance/Design Project. In this course you will design a performance of Aeschylus’s
Agamemnon that you feel captures the spirit of what we’ve been learning in class about the
essence of Ancient Greek performance. But this is not a performance for the audience of Ancient
Greece. This is a performance for today. So perhaps some cultural reflection might be necessary
in designing your take on Aeschylus’s Agamemnon. This project can take several forms,
depending upon your interest and talent. Here is a list of some possible forms:
 A written one-act adaptation of Agamemnon
 A performance art piece
 An installation
 A video interpretation of the play
 A set design (with model)
 A director’s notebook
 A performed scene from the play with an innovative twist
Feel free to speak with me if you have an original form you would like to explore. You must
create a short presentation of whatever you choose as your project. Collaboration on the project,
of course, is possible, if you so desire.
Final Research Project. In this class, you will write a ten-page research essay on a relationship
between an Ancient Greek play and an aspect of ancient Greek culture. You are welcome to use
the weekly subjects from this class to inspire your topic. But you can also choose to develop your
own scholarly concoction. The research project will consist of a prospectus and an annotated
bibliography, a draft, and a final paper. You will be required to schedule and attend a draft
conference with me.
Grade Breakdown
Weekly Response Papers 15%
Review #1 15%
Review #2 15%
Class Participation 10%
Performance Project 20%
Final Research Project 25%
Guidelines for submission of written work. All assignments must be handed in through hard
copies; electronic submissions will not be accepted. Type all your work; handwritten work is not
acceptable. Your papers must use Calibri, Palatino, Times, or Times New Roman standard 12point font, be double-spaced, be stapled, use 1.25-inch margins on the sides, use 1-inch margins
at the top and bottom, and include page numbers. At the top of the first page include your name,
the name and number of the assignment, the date of submission, my name, and the number of
the exercise or essay title. Also, remember to proofread and spellcheck your work before
bringing it to class. I suggest that you print out and staple your assignments the night before in
order to avoid any last minute printer issues.
Attendance. It is important that you come to classes prepared. Missed classes and tardiness will
most likely have a negative effect on your grade. While absences for illness (documented with a
doctor's note) and for religious holidays are excused, keep in mind that two absences may impact
your grade and that three absences of any kind may result in failure of the course. You must see
me about every absence.
Naturally, attendance at the two designated performances is also required.
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Classroom Decorum. The classroom is a place where the free exchange of ideas can occur in an
atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. This includes problems such as non-performance of class
obligations, disruptive or disrespectful behavior, and prejudice on the basis of gender, race or
sexual orientation. According to the University policy on student conduct, “Behavior
which…disrupts the educational activities…of the University, is subject to review and possible
penalty.”
NYU Classes. We will use NYU Classes in this course. Familiarize yourself with how to log on
and use it. Assignments and announcements will be posted on NYU Classes.
Academic Integrity. Each student in this course is expected to abide by New York University’s
Academic Integrity policies. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating will not be tolerated. For
more information, see NYU’s Academic Honesty Policy http://www.nyu.edu/about/policiesguidelines-compliance/policies-and-guidelines/academic-integrity-for-students-at-nyu.html. If
you have questions as to how to cite sources, see me. We will also discuss citing sources in class.
Schedule of Assignments
Week One: Greek Theater. What do we think we know?
January 27-31
In class readings
Week Two: Bacchic Revelry
February 3-7
Reading:
Euripides, The Bacchae
Rush Rehm, “The Performance Culture of Athens” and “The Festival Context” from Greek Tragic
Theatre (NYU Ebrary https://getit.library.nyu.edu/go/9170888)
Marvin Carlson, “Introduction: What Is Performance?” from Performance CP
Writing: Imagine you are a spectator in ancient Greece who is going to see a performance of The
Bacchae. Take us through that day in your life. The syllabus will give you an overview of your
writing assignment for the week, but you need to check NYU Classes for the longer writing
prompt.
Week Three: Performance
February 10-14
Head to a performance of something in the city (this week’s schedule may be switched with
another week according to available performances)
Reading:
Readings based around the play we attend.
Writing: A review of the performance.
Week Four: Sex and Sexuality
February 17-21
Reading:
Aristophanes, Lysistrata
Eva Keuls, “The Phallus and the Box: The World Seen in the Shapes of Human Genitals” The
Reign of the Phallus CP
Sarah B. Pomeroy, “Women and the City of Athens” and “Private Life in Classical Athens”
Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves CP
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Writing: Choose one of the readings and reflect upon how your understanding of Greek
sexuality helps you understand the humor in one moment of Lysistrata.
Week Five: Oedipus in Translation
February 24-28
Reading:
Sophocles, Oedipus translated by Kenneth Cavander
Sophocles, Oedipus translated by Frederick Ahl
Frederick Ahl, Oedipus: Evidence and Self-Conviction (selections t.b.d.)
Writing: Pick a significant moment in both versions of the play to read and respond to closely.
Consider here how translation dramatically affects our understanding of Greek plays and thus
Greek theater.
Week Six: Contemplating Festival
March 3-7
Reading:
Aristophanes, The Archarnians
Mikhail Bakhtin, “Carnival and Carnivalesque”
Joe Roach, “Carnival and the Law” from Cities of the Dead CP
Writing: What can contemporary visions of carnival tell us about the performance culture
surrounding the Greek plays? How might Archarnians’ depiction of local culture help us
understand the relationship between performance and culture in ancient Greece?
Week Seven: Black Athena
March 10-14
Reading:
Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus
Lee Breuer, Gospel at Colonus
Martin Bernal, “Introduction” to Black Athena CP
Writing: Think about what Breuer’s work harnesses in the original Oedipus at Colonus script.
How does it re-envision Oedipus at Colonus and why? How might Breuer’s production highlight
the Afro-Asiatic roots of Greek performance?
Spring Break March 17-23
Week Eight
March 24-28: Envisioning/Enacting Performance
Reading:
Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Writing: Performance Project Proposal
Week Nine: Greek Musicality
March 31-April 4
Reading:
Euripides, Medea
M.L. West, “Introduction” and “Music in Greek Life” in Ancient Greek Music CP
Listening: Gardzienice Metamorfozy https://soundcloud.com/gardzienice/sets/metamorfozymusic-of-ancient
Writing: How does thinking about music change your understanding of the performance of
these plays? What does the writing on music make you consider in relation to your own
Agamemnon project?
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Week Ten: Visual Comedy
Reading:
Aristophanes, The Clouds
Visit the Greek and Roman collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Selections from Jeffrey Rusten, Ed., The Birth of Comedy: Texts, Documents, and Art from Athenian
Comic Competitions, 486-280 CP
Writing: Choose one or two visual objects. What do these visual objects tell you about how the
plays might have been performed?
April 7-11
Performance Project Presentations
Week Eleven: The Satyr Play
April 14-18
Reading:
Euripides, Cyclops
Aeschylus, The Net Fishers (fragment)
Sophocles, The Trackers (fragment)
François Lissarrague, “Why Satyrs are Good to Represent,” from Nothing to Do with Dionysus?
Athenian Drama and Its Social Context CP
Watching: The latest episode of Saturday Night Live.
Writing: If Saturday Night Live serves as our contemporary example of satire, how can we utilize
it to better understand the satyr plays of ancient Greece? What kind of respite do these plays
offer from tragedy based on what you’ve read?
Week Twelve: Research
April 21-25
Reading:
Your own research.
Writing: Paper prospectus with annotated bibliography.
Week Thirteen: Second Performance Viewing
April 28-May 2
Reading:
Readings associated with the performance.
Writing: Performance review.
Week Fourteen: Drafting Final Papers
May 5-9
Writing: A draft of your final paper.
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