The Orestia Saga

So, we had to read "The Orestia" in theatre history and do a 5 minute presentation on an aspect of the plays we would teach to upper level undergrads. 'The Orestia" for those of you not familiar with the plays is Aeschylus' version of the mythology surrounding the House of Atreus - go look it up, it's fascinating. After much in class discussion and some further reading of scholarly articles relating to Greek history, tragedy, etc., we were sent off to put our presentations together. Apparently only one of us, or maybe two, heard that the presentations needed to incorporate the readings we did. Oops! When the prof said to the second presenter in class that he hadn't incorporated anything from the articles we read you could see everyone's faces, except for the one or two who actually heard him say that, fall. Oh well, what can you do? I soldiered on and gave a 5 minite presentation on how Aeschylus uses religion in "The Orestia." It went well, I think, I hope! We'll find out when he gives us grades. The good news is, we only have to do this twice more during the semester.

Playwriting is still boring, and still so not what I want to do, but it is what it is. I did have a talk with the prof and he thinks I can make my "germinal image" (that is his favorite phrase, I believe), fit into the Smiley scenario. I still have my doubts, but we'll see. If it doesn't work, I'll come up with a plan B or C or D or whatever. Structure is overrated sometimes. While I know it is important for playwrights to "know the rules" I also think if you do know the rules you should be entitled to experiment once in a while. If you're a baby playwright, yeah, you should learn this stuff. If you're not, then you need to be allowed to expand your work.

On a happier note - I played hooky from homework last night and went to see the touring show of "The Pajama Game." They were giving free tickets away to students last week on campus, so I figured what the heck. I don't have to be on campus till noon today, so I could sleep in. The show was all right - the lighting and sound had some issues - but overall not a bad way to spend a couple of hours and the price was right. Some of the grad students went together and had dinner before, so it was a good time. Now we can all dissect it when we see each other again - LOL! Oh, those theatre people!