Theater of War Director to Lecture on Suffering and Healing in Times of War and Civil Unrest

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From St. Norbert College, February 8, 2018
by Matthew Matuszak, matthew.matuszak@snc.edu, 920-403-3089

As part of the 2017-18 Killeen Chair of Theology and Philosophy lecture series, Bryan Doerries will give a lecture on "Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today." The lecture will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. in the Walter Theatre of the Abbot Pennings Hall of Fine Arts at 123 Grant St., De Pere. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Doerries will described his work bringing Greek tragedies to war-weary U.S. Marines, neighborhoods ravaged by gun violence and crime, and to cities that have been visited by civil unrest after police violence. By describing his work, Doerries will argue that suffering and healing are part of a timeless process in which dialogue and empathy are inextricably linked.

Doerries is cofounder and artistic director of Theater of War Productions. He is a Brooklyn-based writer, director, translator and a self-described evangelist for classical literature and its relevance to our lives today. For the past ten years, Doerries has been directing readings of ancient plays featuring renowned actors in unlikely places, such as military bases, prisons, housing projects and homeless shelters. His aim is to use these more modern settings for ancient plays as a catalyst for transformative, healing dialogue about the impact of violence and war upon individuals, families and communities.

The final lecture in the series will be David Carr, professor of Old Testament at Union Theological Seminary, on Thursday, April 5, 2018, at 7 p.m. For more information, go to http://www.snc.edu/killeen. All Killeen Chair lectures are free and open to the public.

The Killeen Chair is named after the late Rev. Sylvester Killeen, O. Praem., the second abbot of St. Norbert Abbey and chancellor of the college. Established in 1984, the Killeen Chair of Theology and Philosophy aims to bring well-known scholars of theology and philosophy, and their work, to the St. Norbert College campus. The programs sponsored by the Killen Chair, including the annual lecture series, are designed to keep the St. Norbert College community and northeast Wisconsin abreast of current scholarship on the theological and philosophical issues of the present era.

For more information, call the Killeen Chair of Theology and Philosophy coordinator, Luke Chevalier, at 920-403-3932.