ANCIENT GREEK DRAMA WEEK IN BILKENT
”`To learn about the birth of Ancient Greek theatre, and experience it in the actual ruins of that time is a dream come true for any theatre student. We are hoping these experiences will remain with all of our participants for the rest of their lives.”
Jason Hale, Chair, Bilkent University Theatre Department
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Ancient Greek theatre has always been a quintessential part of our theatre education curriculum at Bilkent University Theatre Department since its founding in 1985. From theatre history and text analysis and from learning to make Ancient Greek drama mask work to acting with full productions on stage, every graduating class receives comprehensive theoretical, textual, and hands-on acting training about this fundamental period of theatre history.
In our university, we have established an immersive approach to teaching this period by implementing an Ancient Greek Drama Week in our curriculum that complements our practice-based acting courses. Since 2018, every fall semester during November, we invite theatre artists specialized in Ancient Greek drama and ritual performance and host them on our campus for a week to give master workshops for our second-year students.
Among our guest artists, theatre director, choreographer, and writer Ayse Emel Mesçi has offered our students master workshops on Ritual to Drama and mask. Arkadiusz Klucznik from the Wrocław National Academy of Theater Arts Department of Puppetry, and Angel Simon, master of puppetry from Spain offered our students workshops on mask work and performance during this week.
Our weeklong program culminates with a trip to the Aegean Region in Turkey, the ancient theatre sites in the Izmir area. During the visit, the students have the opportunity to immerse themselves in ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman architecture and culture. The program ends with performances at the Temple of Apollo in Didim, and at the theaters of Priene, and Miletus.
In accordance with our department’s global vision, we invite and collaborate with international acting departments during this week and promote cultural exchange. Until now, students and teachers from Texas Tech University, USA, 2019, and ALEF University, Iran, 2022 have participated in the Ancient Greek Drama Week at Bilkent University Theatre Department and performed alongside our students.
2021, Excerpts from excursion to Priene Ancient site and performance.
2019, Excerpts from excursion to Miletus