Last week, the Department of Performing Arts hosted five undergraduate and graduate students from Texas Tech University (TTU) School of Theater and Dance, along with Professor of Theatre Bill Gelber. Throughout the week, the TTU students joined second-year Bilkent Performing Arts students at a master workshop. Arkadiusz Klucznik from the Wrocław National Academy of the Theater Arts Department of Puppetry conducted the workshop, “Ancient Greek Mask Work.”
The students visited ancient sites in and around İzmir, including Ephesus, Priene, Miletus and the Temple of Apollo at Didyma and spent time exploring Ancient Greek drama from different perspectives. In the Priene theater, they performed “Antigone.”
“Serving our mission of combining academic teaching with acting training as a department of performance arts, we have established an immersive approach to this period’s education by integrating an Ancient Theatre Week into our curriculum since 2018,” said Asst. Prof. Jason Hale, chair of the Department of Performing Arts. “This is a unique program that we’ve been happy to initiate not only for our students at Bilkent but also for our guest actors from the US, enabling them to learn about the birth of theater and experience it in the actual ruins of Ancient Greek and Hellenic sites.”
