New York State Funding for Arts Education Partnerships - SAP

Martin Luther King Jr. High School of Arts and Technology and Epic Theatre Center - "Antigone and The Oresteia"

Young people from economically disadvantaged communities are particularly vulnerable to the lack of personal empowerment that saps their ability to participate in their communities and weakens the power of their voices in our democracy. We met this challenge through students actively participating in the public forum – first by connecting to the big ideas of these classic Greek plays, then by expressing and articulating their opinions. The partnership focused on creative and critical writing, in the belief that classical texts come to life when students make connections between literature and their world.

We improved academic skills and increased literacy through activities that engaged students in exploration of rhetoric, expressive and persuasive writing, analysis of text, distinguishing between literal and figurative, and study of characterization. The partnership promoted a teaching methodology that is "arts-aware," taking into account the creative learning process of students. Students felt triumphant at the end of this process and understood that this was a program that all of their fellow 9th graders participated in. This sense of community extended to the faculty who felt more deeply connected to both the student population and the school itself.

Students rehearse a flashback scene from their new adaptation of The Oresteia.

There were two programs in this project:

Students rehearse their direct examination of Electra.

1. "The Trial of Orestes" began with the performance of Epic’s adaptation of Aeschylus’ The Oresteia. Epic Teaching Artist Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. guided students in the creation of their own trial of Orestes. Students become prosecutors, defense attorneys, witnesses, and reporters in the creation of this trial. Students learned to use rhetorical devices to persuade the jury in The Trial.

2. "Antigone-in-Progress": After two pre-show visits to classrooms, students saw a fully staged professional performance of the play at their school. In class, students created “new Choruses” in response to Sophocles’ text, citizens who represent different community-specific viewpoints on the issues of the play. Students wrote text for these Choruses, integrated them into the original, and learned to perform them. The program culminated in a theatrical event that involved all 90 students.

Students warm up before the performance.

Some reflections from Lead Teaching Artist and Epic Theatre Center Producer Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr.

"My overall sense was that the students were very excited to be able to have their voices heard. One young man who spent most of his time not participating in the class exercises wrote a monologue that can only be described as Jacobean in its vengeful excess – perfect in the middle of a trial about a family’s cycle of violence. Being offered a chance to get inside the head of characters like Orestes and Elektra, he was able to engage a part of himself he rarely uses during a school day. He watched rehearsal and performance with voracious pride.

"A young man who was obviously gifted, yet underachieving in his work, began to become more and more engaged by the details of the case. The more specific and bleak the case looked for Orestes, the more N. began to positively participate in creating a solid defense for him. During the final presentation of The Oresteia, in which the cross-examination is improvised based on testimony for the defense and prosecution, he took over the proceedings with a display of legal tactics that positively baffled the professional actor playing the window-washer who ‘saw’ the murder of Clytemnestra. N. badgered, cajoled and befriended the witness, sometimes asking the same question three different ways to get him to admit he didn’t know who killed Clytemnestra, or at least he didn’t ‘see’ it.

A student performs his closing statement for Judge Athena and the jury.

Epic TA Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. works with a student.

"One class unanimously felt like their voices would never be heard because they were of color, because they weren’t rich, because they were children. This was challenging, as they had every right to what they were feeling. I had them do what Epic calls 'the Valley of Public Opinion' - the class is divided into two sections and one person has to walk between the sections. This person is undecided on a particular issue and each person on each side has the opportunity to say one sentence to sway her to their side. This provided a rich forum for the students to discuss their rage and helplessness, as well as the prologue to our version of Antigone. We recreated that argument at the beginning of the play, the events of Antigone answering the question, 'Why are we doing this?'

"On the day of the presentation the students came alive. The final sharing showed their understanding of the issues presented by 'Antigone in Progress.' They were, as we always will be, in the process of trying to figure out for themselves where they stand on the issues of society versus individual rights, the issues of whether or not there are times when a law should be broken, the issues of the place of a woman in society.”

Students from the defense team listen to the opening statement of the prosecuting team.

Final circle before the show