Technologies in the Theory and Practice of Greek and Roman Performance and its Reception

This Symposium focuses on the reception of Greek and Roman tragedy, comedy, satyr play, epic, lyric, and other texts in performance, exploring their afterlives through re-workings by writers and practitioners across all genres and periods. This year’s theme seeks to explore how technology, broadly conceived, has shaped ancient drama and the modern reception and performance of Greek and Roman drama. The relationship between technological innovation and ancient drama is discernible in both the ancient and modern worlds. Its implications range from questions surrounding ancient stage technologies such as the mēkhanḗ (μηχανή); to the relationship between ancient performance and the development of literary and material cultures; and to the role that digital technologies play in and around modern performances of Greek and Roman drama.