Having followed the stream of e-mail from oudeis-idea I am left with some
comments and questions which I hope you and/or anyone else could clarify
for me. The impression I have is that the final text is going to be
decided or suggested by this large group of people affiliated with the
project and then you, as the dramaturg, are going to essentially edit what
you want in and what is excluded.
The process for selection, as I read it, works this way. "The Story" is
going to be based on several books from The Odyssey which are still in the
process of being decided. From these books pertinent sentences will be
cherry-picked based on their ability to tell the "whole" story and this
will then become the basis for the entire text.
Now, I don't want to sound critical because my only intention is to get a
firmer grasp on what this whole thing is about. However, several concerns
do immediately come to mind. The first is that the process itself appears
that it may be more important than the content as in "The medium is the
message." I say this because in most cases the script (artistic vision)
comes first and then the process is tailored to that vision. In this case,
the opposite appears to be true. Also, if the idea is simply to cull
selected passages from The Odyssey won't that result in essentially an
abridged version of this classic being read aloud? Unless, of course,
these selections from The Odyssey and the chosen characters are to be used
as metaphors, which is one of my questions. Are the settings, places,
times and characters of The Odyssey to be followed literally or are they
merely a starting point from which we can venture anywhere? Also, is the
text going to be exclusively made up from selections from The Odyssey or
will they be augmented by additions supplied by various people associated
with this project? It seems to me that the answers to these questions will
have some impact on how the process is to be carried out as well as help in
clarifying what the eventual role of the audience is to be.
In closing, I would like to say that I admire you for the scope and breadth
of this project you are sheperding and I hope that my comments prove to be
helpful.
Lee