University of California, Santa Barbara, Playwright/Theater

GREEK SOJOURN

"When I was invited to teach a playwriting class at the School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in May, 2019, under the auspices of the Fulbright Senior Specialist program, I had no idea how much I would enjoy two weeks in the beautiful Macedonian port city.  Professors Zoi Detsi and Sophia Emmanouilidou from the Department of American Literature and Culture made me feel welcome by introducing colleagues and students and hosting dinners and social gatherings. We got to soak in the beautiful Mediteranian climate and ambience that is Northern Greece, with its rich history and culture. (Photo of Professor Morton “dressed” in traditional Greek costume.)

I assigned my eight playwriting students the task of composing a ten-minute play in two weeks (6 class meetings), which might seem easy but whose goal was to write a timely, urgent and, most of all, dramatic play, and then rewrite it again, until it was able to stand on its own as an integral work of art  à la  Aristotle’s Poetics.  I urged them to organize a night of staged readings in front of a live audience.  One of the highlights of my stay was meeting a recently minted Ph.D. student, Aikatenini Delikonstantinidou, who has written a dissertation, based, in part, on one of my plays, La Malinche, an adaptation of Euripides’ Medea. During my recidency, Ms Delikonstaninidou conducted an interview which will be published in the journal Critical Stages.

Ι was so impressed with Aristotle University, it’s faculty and students, that I propose to return to teach another class and/or playwrighting workshop on Latinx Theater.  (Photo of Professor Morton with playwriting students.)"

Carlos Morton is a Fulbright Alumnus of the 2018-2019 Specialist Program