Blog

Movie Release! – watch it here

This evening!!

Scene with green screen

If you’ve been following along with this story, one of the challenges has been to seamlessly integrate one of our actors, who is nowhere near campus this semester, while the scenes are being filmed on the Gustavus campus. Katherine shared several videos earlier, simple tips on how to use TikTok, including how to use green…

Human Trafficking

So about human trafficking . . . I had mentioned in the brainstorming post that this was one of the social issues we have looked at in reading Plautus’ Menaechmi this semester. My thoughts returned again to this issue the past weekend, when I read this NPR story We tend to think of girls and…

TikTok Tips

Katherine is the undisputed team leader on this production. Not only does she play the lead roles (Megan and Meghan), but her familiarity with TikTok, and the ease with which she films using it, was critical to the success of this undertaking. She recorded these very short videos to help other students use some basic…

March 10, 2021 – St. Olaf tradition

In brainstorming with my students about how to stage their interpretation, I had to talk about St. Olaf Professor Anne Groton and her amazing traveling troupe of Roman comedic actors. As a Classics professor at a small liberal arts college in Minnesota for the past 14 years, and having attended more than just a few…

Film Poster

Created by Emily Adamson from a screenshot of this semester’s class Zoom room. Vibe = high school yearbook. Nota Bene: you can use your smartphone camera to scan the QR code in the lower left corner to get the Zoom link for the April 21st performance.

Feb. 12, 2021 – Brainstorming

Students had read Plautus’ “Menaechmi” in English translation, and they brought to class their notes from watching the Wash. U. performance of Plautus’ “Rudens” last Saturday. The primary consideration – How to stage the play? What would the time period be? And costumes? Diction? (See “Past Performances” page in this blog for photos of my…

How Did We Get Here?

Each time I’ve taught this upper-level Latin class on the Roman playwright Plautus, there has been an option for the students to write a script and perform it, in lieu of an exam. Although the artistic production is far more work than studying for an exam, students have always opted for the performance. This year,…

Feb. 6, 2021 – Wash. U. in St. Louis Symposium and Zoom Performance

Thanks to advertising on social media, I caught wind of this entertaining event focused on a late 19th century translation of Plautus’ “Rudens” by the Ladies’ Literary Society, and hosted by Washington University in St. Louis. I attended the morning Symposium, and my students were in attendance for the afternoon Zoom performance, which featured creative…