“Remember,” Bryan Doerries likes to say in both physical and virtual gatherings, “you are not alone in this room — and you are not alone across time.” With his public health project, Theater of War, he is activating an old alchemy for our young century. Ancient stories, and texts that have stood the test of time, can be portals to honest and dignified grappling with present wounds and longings and callings that we aren’t able to muster in our official places now. It’s an embodiment of the good Greek word catharsis — releasing both insight and emotions that have had no place to go, and creating an energizing relief. And it is now unfolding in the “amphitheater” of Zoom that Sophocles could not have imagined.

Bryan Doerries — is co-founder, principal translator, and artistic director of Theater of War Productions. In 2021, Theater of War is launching a new form of global amphitheater in conjunction with the first ever Nobel Prize Summit on the civilizational issues facing humanity. Learn more - and register - at theaterofwar.com. His books include The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today and All That You’ve Seen Here is God, his translations of four ancient plays.

This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode “Bryan Doerries — “You are not alone across time." Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.

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