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This next section will last about 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the time and make sure you only work on this section until 10:30am at the latest. At 10:30am -- no matter where you've gotten -- scroll to the bottom of this page to find your next instructions. If you finish before 10:30am, no worries. You're golden!

PLEASE READ ALOUD:

Bryan Doerries, a contemporary theatre-maker and translator of Ancient Greek Tragedies, contends that “Tragedies don’t mean anything. They do something.” He goes onto say that “Tragedy was not simply a matter of entertainment. It was an ancient technology." In fact, the tragedy of that time had such a profound effect that the writer Aristotle used the word “cathartic” (a term previously reserved for laxatives) to describe his experience watching those tragic plays.

However, while it may truly be a form of “ancient technology” -- a technology that does something to its participants rather meaning something to them -- tragedy as an art form is not locked in one time or place somewhere in the distant past. And certainly, it's most peculiar component, the chorus, like most forms of popular human expression, can be found in all cultures, on all continents, and continues to be chopped up, spliced, remixed and reimagined as culture changes and shifts overtime.

In order to better understand this feeling, watch the following selection of short videos as a group on one screen. As you do, continue to interrogate what the different choruses are trying to "do" to their "audiences." You may plug into the speakers so that everyone can hear well.