War and Speech: Orality, Aurality, and How Ancient Greek Theatre is Helping Modern Warriors

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College. The New York City-based company Theater of War uses the plays of Sophocles – specifically Ajax and Philoctetes – as a supportive model for reintegration for soldiers returning from war. In this paper I examine those plays both in their original context in antiquity and as they relate to current warriors in modernity. Theater of War\u27s approach to Greek theatre as a natural and necessary tool for the reintegration of soldiers is most justified in its oral and aural accomplishments: the company both clarifies a common vocabulary and enables a common heard experience for returning warriors