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"Athens Holds My Heart and Soul" 

 

This is the second time that ARHU has sent a party of intrepid faculty members and students to Athens, Greece, to perform a play and participate in a conference. Last year we were able to send a large party over, with the support of the Interdisciplinary Center for Hellenic Studies (ICHS), to put on Pam Hendrick’s production of O’Neill’s “Desire Under the Elms.” This time round, once again with the backing of the ICHS, we have sent a smaller group to bring a one-man play of Byron to the 35th International Byron Conference on "Lord Byron and History"; David Roessel (Associate Professor, LANG) is also presenting a paper at this conference, entitled "Byron and George Finlay." 

The play itself – “Athens holds my Heart and Soul” – was assembled over the last few months by David Roessel, Mark Mallett, and Patrick Judd. It is based upon the letters of Byron and the poems he wrote during his first trip to Greece between 1809 and 1811. David, Mark, Patrick, and Jaaron Boger (the stage manager) were to be found throughout the summer working on revising and rehearsing the script, providing accent training for Patrick (what accent would Byron have had?), and a great deal of work was undertaken in producing a piece that would be both informative, based on appropriate scholarship, and entertaining. Like the previous one-man production to come from David Roessel and Mark Mallett, Jaaron’s production of Langston Hughes’s letters and poems, this one promises to be a success.

The build up has been fraught with difficulties. The dress rehearsal was well attended by the Theatre Club members and some faculty. Overall it went well, but Patrick Judd had to overcome an issue with the props – the letters having been placed on the desk out of order. As if we had a particularly disorganized Byron before us, Patrick managed to convince almost everyone that there was nothing untoward about this. The plan, though, is to forego this experience in Athens!

The party left for Athens on Friday, September 4, 2009. Traveling to Newark Airport, the first wave, Mark, Patrick, and Jaaron, soon confronted their first problem – the fact that Jaaron’s passport had fallen out of his bags in his dormitory room. The party became a pair, after some very skillful negotiating from Mark secured Jaaron a seat on the following days flight. Lengthy disquisitions about how difficult the budgets at New Jersey colleges are, and various other strategies (most notable of which was a pleasing disposition), achieved this great feat without even an additional charge.

And this is where our emails from Mark Mallett (channeling Walter Cronkite) begin. He and Patrick had just arrived and Mark sent us word to let us know that at least the first hurdle had been crossed.

From Mark Mallett (Associate Professor, Performing Arts):