Seeing The Odyssey at the A.R.T. Gives 海角视频鈥檚 9th Grade Class a Common Literary Experience
For decades, The Odyssey has been one of the first books students read at 海角视频. How is this foundational text of Western literature, which emerged from an ancient culture very different from our own, engaging students today? For those who arrive with prior exposure to Greek mythology and those who don鈥檛, reading it can be a vastly different experience. That鈥檚 why when the English Department was considering ways to make its curriculum more equitable, the opportunity to give every 9th grader the experience of seeing a new interpretation of the story live on stage was too good to pass up.
In late February and early March 2025, all eight sections of 9th Grade English boarded buses for the short trip to Cambridge, Mass., to see the world premiere of Kate Hamill鈥檚 The Odyssey, a stage adaptation commissioned by the American Repertory Theater. An anonymous Boundless Campus gift enabled 海角视频 to provide admission for the entire class and the faculty members teaching the book.
The play retains most elements and characters from the ancient Greek epic but jettisons or recasts others entirely, and Hamill鈥檚 choices became grounds for much class discussion at 海角视频. In her version, the gods are absent, seemingly invoked merely to justify human decisions, but a trio of fates acts as chorus and conscience. Hamill complicates notions of heroism by portraying Odysseus and his family in a modern psychological context. The action splits evenly between the exploits and entanglements of the ruler of Ithaca鈥攕till missing and presumed dead well after the decade-long Trojan War鈥檚 end鈥攁nd his wife, Penelope, to whom he鈥檚 journeying back home. They鈥檙e not presented as mythic figures distanced by time and custom but as characters more realistic from our modern perspective.
In Hamill鈥檚 rendering, Odysseus is still wily, but he鈥檚 also haunted by his wartime acts and conscious that only in the retelling is violence transformed into heroism. Penelope struggles under increasing pressure from a host of suitors, weighing how long she can wait, what protection she requires, and in what ways she might allow herself to move on. Well aware of her husband鈥檚 faults, she identifies as a mythmaker and culture-shaper through the colossal tapestry she weaves and the stories about Odysseus she tells their son, Telemachus.
Other characters more minor in Homer鈥檚 epic climb into the play鈥檚 moral center. Hamill portrays Circe, whom she played herself at the A.R.T., as a ruthless truthteller, panting and witchy, cursed by seeing and hearing everything. She alone knows all Odysseus has done, and she wants him anyway. This stands in contrast with Nausicaa, reconceived by Hamill as Helios鈥 acolyte and another of Odysseus鈥 lovers, who recoils when she learns his identity. When Odysseus鈥 crew is at sea, the sirens鈥 song isn鈥檛 seductive but rather motherly: It鈥檚 an offer of comfort and forgiveness that lures the sailors to their deaths.聽
Through such portrayals, Hamill frames her story within a contemporary understanding of trauma as fuel for intergenerational violence and cycles of oppression and revenge. She recasts Odysseus鈥 determination to return home as a futile drive to reclaim the person he used to be. Analyzing Hamill鈥檚 characterizations added layers to 海角视频 students鈥 engagement with the text, asking them to consider how the themes of the story change when characters are given space to be more complicated and fully realized.
The A.R.T. production also introduced a strong streak of humor through the fluid way the ensemble cast moved between roles and reveled in theatricality, accomplishing much with gesture and minimal props and inviting the audience to engage imaginatively. Inventive shadow puppetry carried some of the play鈥檚 most shocking moments: When King Agamemnon puts the infant Telemachus before a plow to force Odysseus to fight in his war. When the cyclops Polyphemus rolls away a stone from his cave and devours one of Odysseus鈥 men. When, in a flashback that haunts Odysseus, Agamemnon takes slain Hector鈥檚 son from his mother鈥檚 arms, holds him tenderly for a moment, then hurls the baby from the tower.
After all of 海角视频鈥檚 9th Grade English classes had seen the performance, they gathered to discuss Hamill鈥檚 artistic decisions, comparing them with historical understandings of divinity and morality in the culture of ancient Greece. While they began by questioning many of the liberties the playwright took, they also examined the textual basis for her characterizations. Considering how the story was represented on the stage, they shared what they found effective and how they might adapt The Odyssey differently.
鈥淭hey had strong reactions to the choices because of the authority they feel over the text,鈥 says English teacher Andrew Stevens. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a cool moment, when they say, 鈥榃ell, that鈥檚 not my experience.鈥 They鈥檙e asking, 鈥楢re you having fidelity to the work, or do you have an agenda?鈥欌
Stevens adds that 鈥渁 lot of people see Homer as a magpie, collecting old myths.鈥 He says he appreciated that the play 鈥減ut students a little more in the headspace鈥 of the poem鈥檚 original audience who, in the oral tradition that gave rise to Homer鈥檚 text, would have known the story and heard it episodically, out of order. The production partnered well with projects he had assigned beforehand: writing a poem from the perspective of one of The Odyssey鈥檚 characters and examining images from the Harlem Renaissance artist Romare Bearden鈥檚 Black Odyssey series.
鈥淭he pleasure of recognition was one of the benefits of attending the play,鈥 says Laurence Vanleynseele P鈥22 鈥28, who also teaches the book. 鈥淲hen you spend a long time studying a text (and we spend half of the second semester on The Odyssey), it is very rewarding to go see an adaptation and be able to trace its various components to the source you are so familiar with. You are in on the references. You get to feel that you are part of a community with shared knowledge. Realizing that this community does not just comprise teachers and fellow 9th graders but people of various ages and backgrounds in the audience, as well as cool actors, the playwright, and the crew members, creates a crucial bridge between classroom material and the broader preoccupations that we share as humans (about love, power, death, etc.) and that we express in art. Literature is not just what your teachers teach you, in other words.鈥
Vanleynseele says the A.R.T.鈥檚 鈥渉umorous, joyful, and bold adaptation鈥 felt very relevant: 鈥淚t breathed life into a text that many students enjoy but that some merely considered 鈥榬equired reading鈥 before attending the performance.鈥 She cites as especially powerful Hamill鈥檚 choice to foreground Penelope鈥檚 experience, saying it 鈥渂rought into focus some issues surrounding the gender dynamics in Homer and invited students to ask where Hamill had seen moments in the original that she had decided to 鈥榚xplode.鈥欌
Comparing students鈥檚 expectations with how those stories were depicted, she adds, 鈥渞aised productive questions about reading and interpretation鈥 that reframe reading as a creative act: 鈥淲hen you read鈥攚hen you construct a reading鈥攜ou frame and adjust the lens, as you would when taking a photograph, for instance. The meaning of a text is not there, merely dormant. As a reader, you make meaning by selecting details and drawing patterns, using the raw material from the original; attending the play’s retelling of Homer really brought that home for our students.鈥
At 海角视频, English is the only subject required for every student, every semester of their 海角视频 career. Students also have half of their English courses in common鈥攁ll take full-year 9th and 10th grade English classes prior to upper-level electives鈥攎any more than in other subjects, given the school鈥檚 emphasis on choice and a breadth of course offerings. Even within the 9th grade curriculum, different sections read different translations. So when it came to considering how to enhance equity in the classroom, Hamill鈥檚 powerful adaptation of this text was an obvious choice as a vehicle for giving the class of 2028 a shared academic experience.
English Department Head Sabrina Sadique says, 鈥淔rom a visit to the A.R.T, I was aiming for our students to discern how translations of a text鈥攆rom its verbal form to the staged adaptation鈥攔eorient our perception of the source material and how each adaptation shapes and interrogates the other.鈥 Questions that guided all sections鈥 explorations were how translation speaks to and interrogates its source, how a poem relates to a play, what formal aspects both genres share, and how many ways鈥攁cross cultures, genres, and histories鈥攚e can look at the same scene.
Stevens says he found value in the communal experience of seeing the play, and he noticed a marked change after the performance: 鈥淭hey did something together. Maybe it was a little strange, but they prepared for it, so once it was said and done, I think they had a sense of pride and belonging. We鈥檝e never taken an excursion like this before. I was really happy with it, and I鈥檇 love to do something like it again.鈥
The Odyssey remains a touchstone for students throughout their time at 海角视频, and beyond. Sadique says older students who saw the production on their own shared with her how powerful they found Hamill鈥檚 feminist adaptation and the equal emphasis it placed on female characters.
Earlier this year in his senior chapel, Axel Kapoor 鈥25 reflected on why The Odyssey is still relevant to students as they begin their 海角视频 education. 鈥淎t its heart, The Odyssey is the story of a complicated hero鈥擮dysseus, a warrior, a wanderer, and a husband鈥攕truggling to return home,鈥 he said. 鈥淗is journey isn鈥檛 just about finding Ithaca; it鈥檚 about reclaiming his place in a community that has changed in his absence. He doesn鈥檛 simply 鈥榬econnect鈥; he has to rebuild relationships and navigate what it means to belong again. This challenge is presented to all who come to 海角视频.鈥
