Stanford Summer Theater

Stanford Summer Theater is delighted to offer the Stanford community an opportunity to see a revised version of Wanderings of Odysseus, which plays in Athens, Greece in September, sponsored by the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, the European Union, the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Stanford’s Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education. Visit the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation website, which has extensive coverage of the production.

Reviews of Greek performances of Wanderings of Odysseus
9.8.2012 - "Adika Einai I Xarybdi Pou Prepei Na Apofygoume" - Eleytheros Typos (Free Press)
9.13.2012 - "Ellenika Peripeteies San Ton" - Ta Nea (The News)
9.16.2012 - "Oi Amerikanoi Pou Diekdikoun Ton" - To Bima (The Platform)

Translated by Oliver Taplin and directed by Rush Rehm, Wanderings of Odysseus brings to life the first half of Homer’s great Greek epic, The Odyssey. Homer creates an extraordinary world filled with memorable characters, archetypal conflict, flights of the imagination, and gritty detail that never loses sight of the dream of home and the fact human mortality.

The centerpiece of SST’s 2010 Festival “Around the Fire: Homer in Performance,” our 2012 version of Wanderings of Odysseus features original cast members Courtney Walsh, Paul Baird, Ariel Mazel-Gee, and Taylor Brady, joined by new company members Peter Ruocco, Jeffrey Bihr, Angela Farr Schiller, and Jessica Waldman (understudy), with choreography by Katharine Hawthorne.

Wanderings of Odysseus plays Thursday through Saturday September 27-29 at 8pm, Sunday September 30 at 2pm, and Tuesday through Friday October 2-5 at 8pm, in The Nitery, Old Union.

This past summer, Stanford Summer Theater celebrated its 14th season with the Sam Shepard Festival, exploring the work of this great American playwright, actor, and screenwriter. The Festival features a major production of Curse of the Starving Class, July 19-August 12, 2012, in Pigott Theater on the Stanford campus. Directed by Rush Rehm, Curse of the Starving Class stars SST veterans Marty Pistone (Restoration Comedy) as Weston, Courtney Walsh (Old Times, Oedipus, Electra, Faith Healer) as Ella. The cast includes Max-Sosna Spear (Wesley), Jessica Waldman (Emma), Ben Fisher (Taylor), Keith Marshall (Ellis), Don DeMico (Emerson), and Michael Vang (Malcom, Slater).

The Sam Shepard Festival includes a free film series focusing on Shepard’s cinematic work (as an Oscar-nominated actor and prize-winning screenwriter), a community symposium exploring “Sam Shepard and the Eclectic American West,” and a Continuing Studies course “Shepard and American Realism.”

Reviews of Sam Shepard Festival
8.3.2012 - "REVIEW – Curse of the Starving Class – Stanford Summer Theater" - Artsalot
8.3.2012 - "Go backstage of Sam Shephard play with Stanford actor" - Peninsula Press
7.26.2012 - "Stanford Summer Theater roots for the middle-class man in ‘Curse of the Starving Class’" - Stanford Daily
7.23.2012 - "A disturbing look at 'The Starving Class'" - Palo Alto Daily News
7.21.2012 - "Play a darkly absurd tale of poverty" - Daily Post
7.20.2012 - "Curse of the Starving Class" - Examiner
7.9.2012 - "Live theater meets the real world" - Palo Alto Weekly
7.5.2012 - "Stanford professor leads exploration of the work of actor, playwright Sam Shepard" - Stanford Report

Sponsors of SST’s Sam Shepard Festival include Stanford Continuing Studies Program, the Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education, the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford Department of Theater and Peformance Studies, the Bill Lane Center for the American West, Stanford Humanities Center, Stanford Department of English, the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages, and the Program in American Studies.