The University of Colorado at Boulder will host a free public symposium Jan. 31 in connection with the Denver Center Theatre Company's production of Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex."
Associate Professor John Gibert, chair of the classics department at CU-Boulder, will lead a discussion by a panel of theater and classics scholars in Norlin Library's Center for British and Irish Studies from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Gibert also will lead a symposium on Jan. 30 in the Denver Center's Stage Theatre from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Gibert will be joined at both sessions by Professor Mary-Kay Gamel of the University of California-Santa Cruz, noted writer and critic Daniel Mendelsohn, "Oedipus Rex" director Anthony Powell and Professor Craig Turner of the University of North Carolina. Symposium attendees will have a chance to meet with the panelists after the program.
"Oedipus Rex" is widely considered to be ancient Greek writer Sophocles' masterwork. Abandoned at birth, Oedipus eventually rises to become a king but is troubled by a prophecy that he will kill his father and commit incest with his mother. When it is revealed that he has unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy, he stabs his eyes out and exiles himself.
The experts will discuss whether the play taps into currents deep within the human psyche, and if so, whether the experience is the same for audience members of different genders and cultural backgrounds. The panel also will talk about the balance that modern productions strike between re-creation of aspects of ancient performances and changes to suit today's audiences.
The "Oedipus Rex" symposium is the fifth in a series of annual events jointly sponsored by CU-Boulder and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. In Boulder, the event is supported and coordinated by the Center for Humanities and the Arts, with additional support from the Graduate Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
CU-Boulder's Gibert writes and teaches on Greek and Latin literature, especially Greek tragedy, comedy and epic poetry. In 2000, he organized and participated in the first of the symposia jointly sponsored by CU-Boulder and the Denver Center titled "Tantalus and the Greeks."
Gamel is a professor of classics, comparative literature and theater arts at UC-Santa Cruz. She writes and teaches on ancient Greek and Latin literature, especially ancient drama and its adaptations for the contemporary stage and film. She is co-author and translator of "Women on the Edge: Four Plays by Euripides."
Mendelsohn has been a lecturer in classics at Princeton University and has written over 100 reviews, articles and features for such publications as The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review and Esquire. His 1999 book, "The Elusive Embrace: Desire and the Riddle of Identity," was named a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year.
Powell is an associate artist with the Denver Center Theatre Company and the director of "Oedipus Rex." His past Denver Center directing credits include "Copenhagen" and "Hamlet" among many others. Powell has appeared as an actor in regional, stock and off-Broadway theater. This is his 18th season with the DCTC.
Turner teaches in the University of North Carolina's Professional Actor Training Program, and is the mask and movement coach for the DCTC production of "Oedipus Rex." He has been involved in movement training, fight choreography and play direction at leading American universities for 30 years.
In addition to the two symposia, the theater company's Higher Education Advisory Council will hold a post-show discussion Jan. 29 following the matinee performance of "Oedipus Rex" at the Stage Theatre in Denver.
For more information on symposia events, visit the CU-Boulder Center for Humanities and the Arts' Web site at .
The public is invited to attend any of the sessions, but reservations are requested for the Denver symposium. To RSVP for the Denver symposium, visit or contact Dane Witherspoon at (303) 893-6034.
The Denver Center Theatre Company's production of "Oedipus Rex" runs from Jan. 27 to Feb. 26 in the Stage Theatre at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. To purchase tickets call (303) 893-4100 or visit .