ANCIENT GREEKS on WAR with ELLEN McLAUGHLIN

If you own a textbook on the history of theatre, chances are good that there is an iconic photo of actor Ellen McLaughlin, who originated the role of the Angel in Tony Kushner's epic Angels in America. In this episode I speak with McLaughlin in her capacity as a playwright who has breathed new life into ancient Greek texts. She has been aptly described by Kushner as a "dramatist of courage, intelligence, wit and lyricism." We focus on a subset of her work—her versions of plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, exploring the questions they once raised for ancient audiences, and still raise for contemporary ones. For instance, the major tragedians were all war veterans, writing for theatergoers who were predominantly war veterans—a dynamic that has not existed in Western theatre in the 2500 years since. What do the ancient Greeks have to teach us about the costs of war, and what we owe to veterans?

McLaughlin’s plays have been produced off-Broadway, regionally and internationally. She is the recipient of the Writer’s Award from the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund—which we talk about, because she developed an amazing project with refugees from the Bosnian War—as well as other honors, including the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, and grants from the NEA. Plays and operas include: Tongue of a Bird, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, The Persians, Penelope, Ajax in Iraq, Septimus and Clarissa, Blood Moon, and The Orestia. She has taught in several programs, including the Yale School of Drama, Princeton University and the Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English (where I met her in 1999). She has taught playwriting at Barnard College since 1995. (Photo: Chris Hardy)

Even if you own a theatre textbook, this probably isn’t the shot of Ellen as the original Angel in America depicted therein—but because I mentioned it, I wanted to include a memorable visual. This image comes from a rare Polaroid by Annie Leibovitz of Ellen and Tony Kushner outside the Walter Kerr Theater in 1993, deployed for another purpose in 2018 for which Theatre Communications Group paid dearly. Because it’s pretty awesome, I’ll leave it here until the lawyers ask me to replace it.

NOTES

Learn more about Ellen McLaughlin and her fabulous work here. During our conversation, I referred to my conversation with Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater (NYC). Check that out here.

Featured throughout this episode are various tracks by Rinde Eckert, the writer, composer, librettist, musician, performer, and director who is also Ellen’s husband. Eckert’s Opera/New Music Theatre productions have toured throughout America and to major theater festivals in Europe and Asia. With a virtuosic command of gesture, language and song, this total theatre artist moves beyond the typical boundaries of play, dance piece, opera or musical, in the service of grappling with complex issues. Learn more about him here. Tunes used in this episode: “Time of the Pharoahs,” “Tongues Will Wag,” “Attic Steps,” “Waltz of the Figurines,” “Rain Tree,” and “Weaver Bird.”

Rinde Eckert playing one of his (literally) hundreds of instruments.

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Current supporters include: Aaron Bartley, Gilberto Belaval, Mary Rappl Bellanti, Melinda Bihn, Gretchen & David Brand, Jenni Brand, Jake Brown, Patty Cruice, Ryan Daly, David Davis, James Duggan, Dave Eisenberg, Anna Falicov, Errick L. Greene, Jonathan Hiam, Gregory Horn, Janice & John & Ava & Brooke Horn, Robyn Lee Horn, Greg Jackson, Zack Kramer, Tim Lear, Janet & Robert Lee, Kristen Lee, Tom Loughlin, Susan Lytle, Carol MacVey, Linda B. Matt, Ellen McLaughlin, J. W. Gregg Meister, Miriam Meister, Sarah & Peter Meister, Dwight Nolt, Julia Olff, John Opera, Gail Radford, Gail & Frank Richeson, Stacy Rodgers, Elizabeth & Terry Rowlands, Paula A. Roy, Emily Style, Marue Walizer, John B. Webb, Keith Zemsky

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