Students Experience Live Performance of 'An Illiad: A Modern Retelling'

There is often a misconception among students that studying a play is easier than studying a novel. 

To some extent, that is true. The dialogue in a play helps to make the reading more accessible. A play, however, does not have the narrative description students are used to finding in novels. Plays require critical reading and interpretation, and students must make inferences about a character’s facial expressions, stage direction and setting. Because of this, we believe that plays are not meant to be read – they are meant to be performed – and so, whenever we get the chance to expose students to live theater, we eagerly make that happen.

Last week, the Upper School students got that chance and watched “An Iliad: A Modern Retelling” performed in Rives Hall by Patrick Osteen with RhinoLeap Productions. The performance was a “one-man show,” making it even more impressive. For an hour and a half, students witnessed a modern bard, costumed a bit like Indiana Jones, retelling Homer’s classic epic about the discord, and eventual battle, between Achilles and Hector.

Osteen kept the attention of an audience used to TikToks through his effective use of voice, hand gestures, and humorous interaction. Loud, bombastic dialogue full of gore and battle made it nearly impossible for students to snooze.

English teacher Mr. Jeff Hunt praised the careful, intentional planning evident in the performance, along with the dedication of the actor, who memorized lines of Greek to open the play.

“I don’t think the students grasp just how hard it is to be the sole actor on stage and how rare it is to get to see that kind of performance,” he said.

After the show, dozens of students stayed to ask questions about the actor’s craft and choices, indicating the play’s positive impact. In this experience, our students saw a difficult text come to life because of the energy that is brought to the stage, something more palpable with live performances than videos or written texts.

At Westchester, we teach with this in mind. Our classrooms from pre-K through the 12th grade are active learning environments where we provide ways for our students to interact with and experience what they are learning in a meaningful way that leads to greater comprehension, application and enthusiasm for the content.

Here is a recent example from our senior English classes taught by Mr. Cobb Atkinson, our head of school. While reading “Waiting for Godot,” Mr. Atkinson had his students get up, move around and use props to act out a particularly challenging section of the text.

Drama is a significant component within the Upper School English curriculum. Ninth graders read “Romeo and Juliet.” Tenth graders read “Macbeth,” “Everyman,” “Antigone,” “Philoctotes,” and “Death and the King’s Horseman.” Eleventh graders read “The Crucible.” Twelfth graders read “Othello” and “Waiting for Godot.”

We are fortunate to have been able to give our students the experience of live performance with “An Iliad: A Modern Retelling,” and we are grateful to the Evans family for helping to make that possible.

Mrs. Allison Albert
Upper School English