The Department of Classics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki is organizing the 21st Trends in Classics International Conference (an in-person event) to be held in Thessaloniki from November 12 to 14, 2026. The topic of the conference is:
“Euripidean Stagecraft: New Perspectives”
In Memory of Patricia (Pat) Easterling
Auditorium I
Aristotle University, Research Dissemination Center
September 3rd Avenue, University Campus
http://kedea.rc.auth.gr
The fresh perspectives on Euripidean dramatic and staging techniques gained in the last decades, in conjunction with performance theory, give much scope for a re-evaluation of Euripides‘ stagecraft that takes into account extant and fragmentary evidence. Ancient performance encompasses seen and unseen action, speech, song and dance. This conference will investigate and re-assess the rich material for Euripides‘ stage action and theatre production, as well as the relation of vision and understanding, illusion and fantasy, conveyed through performance. The open-endedness of ancient dramatic texts does not restrict the evidence to a fixed reading and gives rise to challenging questions about the ways in which Euripidean drama is performed and experienced. For instance, in what ways can the play define its own interpretation in performance? How does Euripides use and challenge conventions through variation, experimentation and surprise? In turn, how can a play shape its communication with its audience? At the same time, critical responses to Euripidean stagecraft, as well as the impact of ancient staging practices on modern performance similarly need to be addressed.
PROGRAM
Thursday, November 12, 2026
15.00- 15.45
Registration and Coffee
15.45-16.00
Welcome Greetings
Session 1
16.00-17.45: Dramatic Conventions and Surprise
Chair: C.W. Marshall
Edith Hall (University of Durham): “Reflections on Euripidean prologues”
David Wiles (University of Exeter): “Deliberation and rhetorical performance in Suppliants”
John Gibert (University of Colorado Boulder): “Opportune (mis)fortunes: Facing Apollo at the end of Euripides’ Ion”
Poulheria Kyriakou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): “Silence and unexpected voices: Some minor characters in Euripides”
Session II
17.45-19.30: Dramaturgy and Stagecraft
Chair: Richard Hunter
Stavros Frangoulidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): “Euripides’ Alcestis: Staging conflicting plotlines”
Erika Weiberg (Duke University): “Staging ‘Implicated Subjects’: Talthybius in Trojan Women”
Rosie Wyles (University of Durham): “Aristotle, emotion, and Phoenician Women’s stagecraft”
Elizabeth Scharffenberger (Columbia University): “Euripides and Aristophanic stagecraft: A case for paracomedy in Iphigenia in Aulis”
19.30: Opening Reception
Friday, November 12, 2026
Session III
09.30-11.15: Theatre Production I: The Extant Plays
Chair: Naomi Weiss
Jessica Paga (College of William and Mary): “Constructing the theater of Euripides”
Hallie Marshall (University of British Columbia): “Costumes in Euripides’ Ion”
Ruth Scodel (University of Michigan): “Not-quite-cancelled entrances in Euripides”
Sheila Murnaghan (University of Pennsylvania): “Out of the Shadows of Epic: Euripidean stagings of Homeric groups”
11.15-11.30: Coffee Break
Session IV
11.30-13.00: Theatre Production II: From the Extant to the Fragmentary
Chair: Ruth Scodel
Joshua Billings (Princeton University) – Paul Eberwine (College of William and Mary): “Ephebic deaths on stage: Hippolytus, Bellerophon, Phaethon”
Melissa Funke (University of Winnipeg): “ἀπὸ μηχαν[ῆς θε]ός : The mechane in Euripides‘ fragmentary plays”
C.W. Marshall (University of British Columbia): “Staging Euripides’ Aeolus is Not a Breeze”
Session V
13.00-14.30: Intertheatricality and Intratheatricality
Chair: John Gibert
Vayos Liapis (Open University of Cyprus): “Medea in the mirror: Symmetries and mirror-scenes in Euripides’ Medea”
Naomi Weiss (Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies): “Euripides’ Phoenician Women: A Doubling Tragedy”
Ioanna Karamanou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): “Shards of mirror-scenes”
14.30-15.30: Lunch
Session VI
15.30-17.15: Stagecraft and Performance I
Chair: Edith Hall
Rush Rehm (Stanford University): “Re-membering the victims: Corpses in Euripides”
Sarah Miles (University of Durham): “Phenomenological parody: Acting out in Euripides”
Rebecca Laemmle (University of Cambridge): “You must remember this. Catch phrases and sound bites in Euripides”
Hanna Roisman (Colby College, Maine): “Euripides‘ Orestes and stagecraft” (Online)
16.30-17.00: Coffee Break
Session VII
17.30-19.15: Stagecraft and Performance II
Chair: Rush Rehm
Niall Slater (Emory University): “Beta-Testing Medea”
Richard Hunter (University of Cambridge): “Medea in the scholia: stagecraft and imagination”
Stavros Tsitsiridis (University of Patras): “The stagecraft of sound in Trojan Women”
Chiara Meccariello (University of Cambridge): “Performance and stagecraft in Euripidean Papyri”
20.00: Conference Dinner
Saturday, November 14, 2026
Session VIII
10.00-11.030: Music and the Chorus
Chair: Judith Mossman
Armand D’Angour (University of Oxford): “Music and dance in Euripides: the evidence of musical documents”
Rosa Andujar (Barnard College, Columbia University): “Staging the Chorus in Euripides”
Maurizio Sonnino (University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’): “Playing with tradition on stage: Euripides’ Andromache and the heritage of threnodic poetry”
11.30-11.45: Coffee Break
Session IX
11.45-13.15: Responses to Euripidean stagecraft
Chair: Armand D’Angour
Anna Lamari (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki): “Women watching women: Euripides, gendered stagecraft, and the female audience in Athenian theatre”
Judith Mossman (University of Coventry): “Euripidean performance in Plutarch: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”
Katerina Arvaniti (University of Patras): “Reviving the satyr play: Euripides‘ Cyclops in modern performance”
13.15-13.30: Closing Remarks
13.30: Lunch
Organizing Committee
Richard Hunter (University of Cambridge)
Ioanna Karamanou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
C.W. (Toph) Marshall (University of British Columbia)
Antonios Rengakos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki & Academy of Athens)
Stavros Frangoulidis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
With the kind support of
ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COMMITTEE
DE GRUYTER BRILL
KOSTAS AND ELENI OURANI FOUNDATION, ACADEMY OF ATHENS
UNIVERSITY STUDIO PRESS