Jewish Studies Cosponsored Event: A Short History of Anger – the Destruction of Smyrna

Posted by greea18 on Friday, August 30, 2019 in Past Events.

Please join us in support of the Department of Theatre, Blair School of Music, and the Department of English for A Short History of Anger– a hybrid work of poetry and theater written by Joy Manesiotis, and directed by Chris Beach.

Used as a blueprint for state sponsored ethnic cleansing and forced migration, The Destruction of Smyrna, in 1922, is an event about which the world has remained strangely silent. A Short History of Anger takes as its source material The Destruction of Smyrna, in Asia Minor, and the resulting mandatory population exchange arranged by the Greek and Turkish governments.

Both a book-length poetic hybrid manuscript and a staged reading, A Short History of Anger is governed by its musical, ritualistic construction, drawing on elements of lament structure, used from ancient to modern Greece, and it attempts to excavate the legacy of genocide and displacement that has resonated through successive generations. Incorporating a combination of prose and poetry, essay and verse, persona and Chorus, A Short History of Anger is built with many voices, many layers and fractures, and employs a modern day Greek Chorus.

A talkback following the performance will feature historian Andrew Patrick of Tennessee State University, Joy Manesiotis, author, and Chris Beach, director, to discuss the history of that turbulent region and the production itself.

The production will take place on September 14 at 8pm, in Turner Hall (Blair School of Music). This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, please contact sandy.solomon@vanderbilt.edu.