November 8, 1996 Contact: Barbara McKenna (408) 459-2495; mckenna@ua.ucsc.edu

HUMANITIES LECTURE SERIES CONTINUES WITH NOVEMBER 14 TALK BY MARY-KAY GAMEL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Mary-Kay Gamel, associate professor of classics, comparative literature, and theater arts at UC Santa Cruz, will present the talk "Ancient Drama: The Difference Women Make" from 7 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, November 14, at the Museum of Art and History at the McPherson Center, 705 Front St., Santa Cruz. The talk is free and open to the public. A reception follows.

Gamel's talk is a part of the Humanities Lecture Series, presented jointly by the Humanities Division at UCSC and the Museum of Art and History.

Since 1985 Gamel has staged nearly a dozen performances of classical Greek plays at UCSC, many of which she translated herself. Her talk will include video clips from those productions illustrating what effect a modern feminist perspective has in finding meanings in ancient texts. Rather than stage what she describes as "museum" productions--those that try to recreate the play as it was first produced--Gamel presents the plays in a modern context. Her production of Ajax was set in the Vietnam War era, Electra was staged in a modern ghetto, and Medea took place in McCarthy-era Hollywood.

"I'm trying to ask questions about conventionally held assumptions and examine texts from contemporary perspectives," Gamel said. "Museum productions are often as theatrically deadly as they are politically questionable. Performance always takes place within history, and even the most scrupulous museum productions are stamped with the signs of their own times."

For more information, call the Humanities Division at (408) 459-2696 or the Museum of Art and History at (408) 429-1964.

Editor's note: For a photo or to interview Gamel, contact Barbara McKenna at (408) 459-2495.

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