Familiarizing audiences with art through experiential priorities has been one of the top activities of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival over the last couple of years. Running parallel to the successful project Opening to the City in Athens & Piraeus, these educational activities will also be held at the Argolis area, as part of the Epidaurus Lyceum’s educational programmes, organized throughout the year. The programme is supported by the Municipality of Nafplio and realized in collaboration with the Theatre Studies Department, University of the Peloponnese.

This year’s educational activities in Argolis fall under the general title “Educating audiences in ancient drama” and will be launched on Monday, February 26, at Vouleftikon (Old Parliament) in Nafplio, at 18:00. Vangelis Theodoropoulos, artistic director of Athens & Epidaurus Festival will be the guest speaker. Audiences will have the opportunity to discuss with Mr. Theodoropoulos. The latter will explain the rationale of the Argolis educational activities and also discuss his upcoming performance, Thesmophoriazusae, presented this summer at the Ancient Stadium of Epidaurus. Greetings by Mayor of Nafplio, Dimitrios Kostouros and the Dean of the School of Fine Arts and President of the Theatre Studies Department of the University of the Peloponnese, Christos Kardaras.

Attendance by the Festival’s artistic director will also mark the beginning of a series of meetings, aptly titled “Dialogues”, as well as the launch of a series of activities informed by the 2018 theme of Epidaurus Festival, Polis and the Citizen. The activities will be categorized as follows:

Activity 1: Dialogues

Discussions and open workshops with artists presenting their work in Epidaurus this year: 26 February – Vangelis Theodoropoulos, 19 March – Kostas Filippoglou, 16 April – Thanos Papakonstantinou, 7 May – Konstantinos Ntellas, 21 May – Martha Frintzila

Activity 2: Playing with Ancient Drama

Interventions in primary and secondary education schools in Argolis:

Workshops featuring students from selected local schools, retraining of educators, closing ceremony at the Little Theatre of Ancient Epidaurus (June 2018).

Activity 3: Active Audience – Active citizens 

Adult education: Experiential theatre workshops and lectures free of charge, attended by Argolis residents.

Activity 4: International audience expansion

Activities meant for school and university students from around the world, on their annual visit to Epidaurus. Activities will be held in collaboration with the Theatre Studies Department, University of the Peloponnese, including the following:

A. Experiential theatre workshop

B. Lectures on ancient drama for older age groups

C. Guided tours through the Asklipion archaeological site

D. Educational material on ancient drama and recommendations for educational activities

All four aforementioned activities, meant for Argolis locals of all age groups and visitors from around the world, are carried out by experienced theatre educators, researchers, directors and artists, under the supervision of Athens & Epidaurus Festival and the Department of Theatre Studies of the University of the Peloponnese. The activities are supervised by Georgina Kakoudaki, director and Athens & Epidaurus Festival co-curator for educational programmes; Christina Zoniou, who teaches acting at the Department of Theatre Studies, University of Peloponnese, and Angeliki Tsakona, theatre researcher and educator for the Creative Children workshop of the Athens & Epidaurus Festival.

Realized with the support of the Municipality of Nafplio, under the auspices of the Directorate of Primary and Secondary Education in Peloponnese, with the cooperation of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Argolis.

 

More information: lyceumepidaurus@greekfestival.gr