http://youtu.be/Ak5I4FgoGOY
Satyr and Musicians lead procession to Megalensia banquet
Curtis provides several sketches for approval
Students in Curtis Trout’s scene painting class work on the drop for Pseudolus
Attention to Detail
Final 10 x 16 ft Backdrop for Pseudolus Designed by Curtis Trout, IWU
Pseudolus with his Prostitutes (on right is statue of Cybele, watching the performance
Shrine of
DIonysus
Members of
procession*
Statue of Magna
Mater on ferculum #
Fresco from shop in Pompeii depicts procession in honor of
Magna Mater. 1.65 m wide
* figures in white may be priests? Females are in colored robes.
All carry musical instrument (cymbals, tibiae) or cult object.
Central figure carries large container (for most sacred objects?)
#the ferculum is surrounded by 4 porters (Galli?). At her feet are
lion statues (associated with this goddess since earliest NE
version)
Altar &
Candelabra
Galli –Cross-Dressed Worshippers
Statue of a
priest of
Magna
Mater
(Gallus)
from Rome.
Rome,
Capitoline
Museums
(late second
century AD)
Man cross-dress as woman at Kerala
temple, Kottamkulangara Temple
(Vilakkeduppu) to honor Bhagvathy
(Mother Goddess).
Original Music Composed by Students
Pseudolus scores
Banquet (Lectisternium)
http://youtu.be/Ak5I4FgoGOY
Plautus, Pseudolus
Illinois Wesleyan
2013
Video:
http://youtu.be/kwJClb
7MUWg
Many Scene Studies! Rehearsals!
Students revised the Pseudolus Script
Inside the Dressing Room
Student “Galli” in make up and during the festival
Administration & Organization
• Identify funding source, budget, schedule of events, book spaces
• Identify faculty collaborators
• Send out Production Team Survey to students before class begins
• Create production teams based on student form; each team elects a khoregos
• Designate a Stage Manager (student)
• Establish reliable form of communication (texting, emails...)
• Have contingency plan for bad weather
• Arrange for catering and any rentals (pipe & drape, portable stage, etc.)
• Encourage active research – work from a variety of sources to address authenticity
problem
• Develop method(s) of Assessment
SCENE STUDY & PRODUCTION TEAMS
(report daily)
WHOLE CLASS:
Dramaturgy = History of Period, Megalenses ritual, Plautus
Pseudolus script adaptation (based on Christenson’s Focus Trans.)
Participation in Megalenses Festival (morning), Pseudolus (afternoon)
TEAM ONE:
Speaking Actors (4) + extras: 4 male slaves, 4 female slaves
TEAM TWO:
Costumes, Make up, Masks
TEAM THREE:
Props (make a “Magna Mater” statue)
TEAM FOUR:
Music, Movement
DIRECTOR, (Sultan) TECHNICAL DIRECTOR (Trout), COSTUME ADVISOR (McDonald)
16 Students (Sultan) + 8 Helpers (Coles) + 3 Musicians
BUDGET PAGE
Sample Budget Page
IWU LUDI MEGALENSES & PSEUDOLUS PRODUCTION 2013
Catering for 50:
Hamburgers
Buns
condiments
plates, cups, napkins, cutlery
side dishes (3)
IWU Rental (?)
Pipe & Drape
Stage
Amplification
Curtis' Costs for Scene backdrop
Props:
Masks (Tim's)
Other Props
Magna Mater Statue & ferculum
Heifer model
Black stones (?)
Small box for Shrine of Dionysus
Other (itemize)
Altar - scout location on campus?
Candelabra
Box (sm) for sacred objects (secret)
Staff for Cybele's statue
Olive branches
percussion instruments: cymbalum, crotales, hand cymbals, claves
(borrowed from SoM)
Costumes
Wigs for Galli
Capes for Galli
Robes for participants (15 + musicians)
Make Up
Materials
Paint
Glue
cardboard/posterboard
Other
Keep good records!
IWU Megalenses Schedule, May 30, 2013
9 am
Gather at Dressing Room for Costumes/Make-Up
11 am
POMPA begin in front of Buck Memorial Library
Group 1:
Phrygian Worshippers
Satyr (sikinnis)
Priest/Priestess
2 Armed Soldiers
4 Galli carry image of Magna Mater
Worshippers
Dancer
Musicians
11:20
Group 2:
Roman Officials
Magistrate
Priest/Priestess
Spear Carriers
Matrons
Equites
Musicians
Process Around Quad to Temple of Magna Mater (Chapel)
Place Goddess on Temple Steps
Galli collect alms
Amy Coles reads Pseudo-Augustus speech describing sacrifice of heifer (iuvenca)
Recitation of prayers
Reading of Catullus 63 (Attis Myth) in Latin and English (2 students)
Nancy Sultan explains symbols of Magna Mater
Process with Goddess to Banquet (Lectisternium)
Place Goddess on pulvinar and feed moretum/ recite prayers
Noon
Catered Cena
2:00
Process Goddess to stage area – Everyone change costumes & prepare for Pseudolus performance
3:30
4:00
Assign audience their roles for role-playing exercise
Magistrate Reads Welcome; Nancy Sultan introduces play, followed by Performance of Pseudolus
Inspiration for Cybele Statue & Procession
Bhagvathy (Hindu Mother Goddess)
National Pilgrim Statue of Our Lady
of Fatima carried in procession
Ludi Megalenses Matri Deum
Magnae Idaea, Cosimo Alberti
(Feb. 19, 2011)
http://youtu.be/LO8MVLF-vrs
Sikinnis (?)
Milano Civico Museo Archeologico - Cybele
and Attis in a lion-drawn chariot 1b (silver
plate) [1st to 3rd cent CE] - Parabiago
PROPS
Cymbals, tympanum, Phrygian
tibia
Headdress shows Attis & Jupiter
Long fillets bound into hair
Sprinkler
Medallion with Attis
Whip of knuckle bones
Box for cult objects
Bowl of fruit (with almonds,
representing Attis’ selfcastration)
Tomb Portrait of Gallus, 2nd c. CE Rome
(in Beard, North, & Price Religions
of Rome Vol II 8.7c)
Female dress
EXPLORING THE MUSIC
Stefan Hagel, Ancient Greek Music:
A New Technical History. Cambridge
2009 http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kal/agm/
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~timmoore/Recordings%20of
%20Plautus/Pseudolus1246ff/Pseudolus1246ffsound.m
p3
Phrygian tibia & tympanum, reconstructed
http://ancestral.co.uk/romanreeds.htm
MASKS
Some research on location, temporary stages & stage architecture, graffiti
Speech about Sacrifice of Heifer
Prayer modeled on ILS 5050/CIL VI.32323 lines 90ff., Augustus’s Saecular Games, 17 BCE
Brackets indicate where a general description of a Roman sacrifice has been inserted. Taken from Beard, North, and
Price (1998) Vol. II, pp.148-150.
Earlier today, on the steps of the Evelyn Chapel on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University, our praetor, Marcus Junius
Brutus, sacrificed with his head uncovered by his toga, according to the Greek rite, a young heifer to the divine Magna
Mater as a partially burnt sacrifice. [The victim, chosen for her perfection, ritually cleaned and adorned, was led in a
procession to the altar.] There the praetor spoke the following prayer: “Magna Mater, as it is prescribed for you in those
Sibylline books, and for this reason may every good fortune attend the Roman people, the Quirites, let sacrifice be made
to you with this fine, young heifer. I beg you and pray that you may increase the power and majesty of the Roman
people, the Quirites, in war and peace; and that you may grant eternal safety, victory, and health to the Roman people,
the Quirites; and that you may protect the Roman people, the Quirites, and the legions of the Roman people, the
Quirites, and that you may be favorable and propitious to the Roman people, the Quirites, to the college of the
quindecemviri, to myself and my fellow magistrates, and that you may accept this sacrifice of a young heifer. For these
reasons, be honored with the sacrifice of this female heifer, become favorable and propitious to the Roman people, the
Quirites, to the college of the quindecemviri, and to myself and my fellow magistrates.”
[The praetor offered wine and incense at the altar of the goddess, that she may drink with us and breathe the scents
that we breathe. Then, the young heifer assented to become the sacrifice to Magna Mater when she nodded her head,
after Junius Brutus anointed her with wine and sacred meal called mola salsa. The slaves, standing by, killed the heifer
with her own permission, and her blood flowed, hot and thick, from her wounds. The haruspices, those Etruscan priests
and diviners, pulled the entrails, the liver, the heart, from our young heifer to verify that Magna Mater accepted her
sacrifice and answered the praetor’s prayer that she be favorable to the Romans, the Quirites. The fat and bones of the
heifer have been burned upon the altar, and a ritual feast from the willing heifer has been prepared for us all to enjoy.]
Opening of Ludi Scaenici / dedication of temple to Magna Mater in 191 BCE
Adapted from Livy 36.36.4 (for 191 BCE, trans. Roberts)
Welcome, Quirites, to the dedication of the temple of Magna Idaea. During the
consulship of Publius Claudius Scipio - afterwards called Africanus - and Publius
Licinius, the goddess was brought from Asia in accordance with advice from the
Sibylline Books; Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica conducted her from the harbour
to the Palatine. The censors, Marcus Livius and Gaius Claudius, signed the
contract for the building in accordance with instructions from the senate during
the consulship of Marcus Cornelius and Publius Sempronius. After the lapse of
thirteen years, I, Marcus Junius Brutus, am pleased to dedicated this temple and
invite you all to the first Scenic Games ever given, which include the production of
Pseudolus you will now enjoy.
SOME PRAYERS (in Latin and Greek)
Supplicis, alma, tuae, genetrix fecunda deorum, accipe preces!
“ Kind and fruitful Mother of the Gods, accept a suppliant’s prayers!"
“Matri Deum et Navi Salviae Salviae!”
"Mother of God and the Savior, Savior Ship!"
(Priestess Sings in Greek): “O Mother of gods and men, who shares the seat and
throne of mighty Jove! O fount of the knowable gods! Goddess, giver of
life, Mother, Providence, and Maker of our souls!
(All Chant in English): You are the beginning of all Good unto the Knowable gods,
and who fills the world with all the objects of Sense, and grants all
good things, in all places, unto mankind! Grant unto all men
happiness, of which the sum and substance is the knowledge of the
gods; and to the Roman people universally, and grant them propitious
Fortune, that will assist them in governing the empire for many
thousands of years to come! To myself grant for the fruit of my
devotion to You----Truth in belief concerning the gods, the attainment
of perfection in religious rites, and in all the undertakings which we
attempt as regards warlike or military measures, valor coupled with
good luck, and the termination of my life to be without pain, and
happy in the good hope of a departure for your abodes!”
(Julian 179d-180c)