 Interview
with KiriaTocugaua (Aphrodite) |
| |
Thank Zeus, our Aphroite,
Kiria agreed to be interviewed! Thank you, Kiria. Congratulations
on your debut as an HW actress, as the goddess of love and beauty!
Do you have any experience in acting, virtual or in RL? |
| Kiria |
No.
I never heard of virtual acting before now and I have all the
RL acting skills of a dead doorknob, so I choose not embarrass
myself by trying to act. |
| |
You just had a rehearsal.
Do you find acting in a virtual theater difficult? If so, what
is most difficult? |
| Kiria |
Well,
I have no idea what I'm doing. I just hope it doesn't look that
way. Judging by the comments I got at the rehearsal, I'm guessing
it didn't. I think the hardest thing is knowing how fast to
go so it'll be easy for the audience to keep up, but not slow
and boring. |
| |
How do you like the episode
on which the play is based upon? Did you know the particular
episode? |
| Kiria |
Oh,
it's a very good episode. And I really like Epi's interpretation
of it. I had known parts of it before, but somehow I managed
to miss or forget the existance of Thetis. Laugh if you want.
I'll only be slightly offended. |
| |
Who is your favorite
author? |
| Kiria |
J.
R. R. Tolkien! But I'm still mad at him for not having female
characters in The Hobbit. |
| |
Why did you pick Aphrodite
of all the roles that were available? |
| Kiria |
I
wanted to play a villain because I'm an evil maniac. (Bwahahaha!)
And Aphrodite seemed appropriate. |
| |
Which scene do you like
best in the play? |
| Kiria |
The
scene where Hephaestus gets thrown off Olympus. I think this
relates back to me being an evil maniac.... |
| |
I heard your family name
is after the famous Japanese shogun Ieyasu. What do you find
fascineating about him? |
| Kiria |
He
was one of the few non-European leaders who held his own against
the West without using the excuse, "White people have better
technology." I'm impressed by that. And he ended the Warring
States period, which was one of the worst periods in all of
world history. Also, he had the good sense to name his smartest
son instead of his oldest as his heir, and that worked out really
well. Really, my name is after all the Tokugawa shoguns because
I'm really impressed with the whole family. |
| |
If we have another play,
would you like to participate? |
| Kiria |
I
think so. But I might like to leave the acting for others and
try being in the audience. I've never seen a virtual play before. |
| |
What role would you like
to play in future? |
| Kiria |
Maybe
a mad scientist or an evil dictator. |
| |
Thank you for your time,
Kiria! |
| Interview
with Epistate (Didaskale) |
| |
Congratulations on the
brilliant Hephaistos, Epistate! What inspired you to write a
classical drama based on the particular episode? |
| Epistate |
One
day I was walking along the beach at Athenai with some friends
and we came across that large piece of coral over on the east
side. I mentioned that its intricate beauty reminded me of some
work of Hephaistos that might have washed ashore while he was
living among the Nereids. Next thing I knew I found myself telling
the whole myth, since nobody with me was familiar with it. I'd
recently attended the performance of M's Aristogeiton and
Harmodios, and I thought, "Hey! This would make a great
play!" So I wrote the idea down, but then I forgot about it
until spring was coming and I was wondering what we might do
to celebrate the City Dionysia. |
| |
So far there is no History
Walker who worships the fire god. What do you think of that? |
| Epistate |
I
think a lot of people don't know much about him. He's sort of
a quiet, stay-at-home type, as intensely creative people so
often are, so there aren't a lot of myths about him. I'm hoping
that maybe some people in the audience will empathize with him
and perhaps even consider changing patron gods! |
| |
You have written your
play in the very authentic style, which is a wonderful surprise.
Do you study Greek Tragedy professionally? |
| Epistate |
I
teach English, so although I do sometimes teach Greek tragedies
in translation I'm not a specialist, by any means. I've been
irresistibly drawn to tragedy, though--especially Euripides--since
my early teens. When I was in junior high my mother took me
to see Michael Cacoyannis's stunning film of The Trojan Women,
and I was hooked. My sixteenth birthday present was tickets
to a live performance of The Bakkhai. Gosh, I hope that
doesn't sound as if I was a morbid kid! There's just something
compelling about the tragic form. |
| |
How many plays have you
written so far? |
| Epistate |
This
is my first. Well, the first I've ever managed to finish. I
did write a few play scripts as assignments back when I was
a student, but that was pretty much under duress. |
| |
Do you have any plan
for future play? |
| Epistate |
With
such wonderful theater facilities and such terrific people willing
to act, I must say it's a a tempting prospect. I think the main
reason I was able to finish this one is that I was dying to
see what kinds of costumes Lys would dream up! And as it turns
out, they're even more fabulous than
I'd imagined. |
| |
Which part of the play
was the most difficult to write? If you had a difficulty. |
| Epistate |
The
choral odes were the hardest. I'm not a big poetry writer in
the first place, and the challenge of writing traditional choral
odes, where the metrical stresses would balance perfectly, was
daunting. Finally I gave up on that and simply made sure that
the number of lines came out even, without worrying about the
number of syllables. That's a decision many translators make
with actual Greek tragedies, so it gives the feel of a tragedy
in translation. Which is the way most of us read Greek tragedy
nowadays, so hopefully it will feel familiar. Then I had to
decide how the choral odes would function. Would they serve
to advance the action, or would they serve more as a counterpoint
with themes that parallel the story? Greek tragedies used both
formats. In the end I took my cue from Sophocles and did a mix
of both kinds. At least I didn't have to worry about making
the odes rhyme, since that wasn't a consideration in classical
Greek drama. |
| |
Which scene do you like
best in the play? |
| Epistate |
I
haven't got a favorite yet. My favorite will be any scene that
goes off smoothly in the final performance! |
| |
Do you have any suggestion
or opinion about our theater system to improve it? |
| Epistate |
Not
a one. I'm already astonished by just how much can be accomplished
at the theater as we have it now. |
| |
How did you hire the
actors? |
| Epistate |
We
wanted experienced actors for the chorus, since that's really
the most difficult part. It's so important that they work well
as a unit. So I invited Syrinx and Verona, who have been at
HistoryWalker since its beginnings and who both acted in Aristogeiton
and Harmodios. For the rest, I just did what I always do
when I need help here at HW: I asked around among my friends
and neighbors. |
| |
What do you find most
difficult about the virtual play? |
| Epistate |
The
timing. Because the lines are "spoken" as text, the actors either
have to type their lines into the chat box or switch back and
forth between two windows, using cut and paste. It's easy to
get a time lag, and that can be boring for the audience. So
the cast, crew, and I had to work really hard on figuring out
how to cut down on that as much as possible. The plus side of
virtual theater--apart from the obvious fact that actors and
audience don't even have to be in same time zone--is that the
actors don't actually have to memorize their lines. |
| |
Do you enjoy being a
didaskale of an HW play? |
| Epistate |
Who
wouldn't? |
| |
Thank you for your time! |
| Interview
with Lys (Choregos) |
| |
HistoryWalker has hosted
three dramatic performances so far: MDidia's historical drama
Aristogeiton and Harmodios, a major highlight at last
year's Panathenaia; the Sacred Play that was the climax of the
initiation ritual in September's Eleusinian Mysteries; and now
Hephaistos Among the Nereids, which will be the centerpiece
of the City Dionysia. What is the advantage of tying in these
performances with
traditional Athenian celebrations? |
| Lys |
The
ideal of HistoryWalker is "play to learn." We want
them to feel the history, not just learn it on a book. For instance,
most active Athenians here should be able to FEEL how expensive
1 mnas is, and how cheap 1 obolos is. We want our members to
associate the classical drama with festivals, naturally, based
on their own experience. |
| |
Are there any further
plans for performances in the future? |
| Lys |
Yes!
We always seek great scripts. Since MDidia, the author of "Aristogeiton
and Harmodios" runs away screaming when I mention "pla.."
we encourage our fellow history walkers to try their career
as a classical dramatist. Technically, we are hoping to add
the "shared image" feature. If possible, "shared
sound" feature will give it a great edge to a play. Also
I'm thinking of how to handle "deus ex machina." Good
thing Epistate didn't call for one this time. Phew! |
| |
What were your inspirations
for the Hephaistos and the Nereids costume designs? |
| Lys |
Inspiration??
The great script, of course! I confess I meant to recycle as
many costumes as I could. But once I read the script, I NEEDED
to make a lovely Thetis, gorgeous and mean goddesses. When the
author, Epistate asked me how would we convince the audience
that the chorus members were nymphs, I decided to try the fish
tail. It was a challenge. |
| |
What unique challenges
are presented by performing a play in a virtual environment? |
| Lys |
IThe
various access rates depending on each member's class and the
time lags it produces. The actors need to make sure to move
around slowly so travelers could catch the movement. |
| |
And finally... When attending
a play at HistoryWalker's Theater of Dionysos, where's the best
place to sit? |
| Lys |
To see the play with balloons, you'd
better sit as close as to the stage/orchestra. Notice South
side has more advantage, due to HW's pseudo 3D architecture.
|
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