Khameleon Productions/Adam Pietraszewski
Khameleon Productions, a U.K.-based BIPOC theater company, will be performing their “uprooted” version of Euripides’ ancient Greek tragedy, Medea at Skidmore College in the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater on March 8th. This is but one stop on Khameleon Productions’s four-month “Uprooting Medea” U.S. tour to promote their company and production at over thirty colleges in the nation—including Boston College, Smith College Brown University, University of Miami, and Yale University—crossing twelve states.
Khameleon Productions’s “Uprooting Medea” tour, curated and produced by Brown Arts Institute (BAI) Visiting Artist Shivaike Shahis, is co-sponsored by the (BAI) and will commence at Brown University as part of their inaugural “Interrogating the Classics Series.” This series will be conducted in collaboration with the BAI and the Brown Departments of Classics and Theatre Arts & Performance Studies. During the Capital District residency they are set to hold come early March, Khameleon Productions is coming to Skidmore College for a day to visit classes, run workshops, and give a public lecture about their production.
The schedule is as follows:
9:40 AM – Combined visit to CC 222: Greek Tragedy with Prof. Curley and TH 334: Dramatic Lit-Caribbean Theater with Prof. Teisha Duncan
12:40 PM – Workshop with TH 304: Advanced Practice in Acting (Duncan)
3:40 PM – Visit to CC 227: Identity and Ethnicity in Ancient Greece and Beyond with Prof. Randolph Ford
6:30 – Public lecture in Filene
All of this will be in addition to one-on-one time with students, which is to be announced.
Shivaike Shahis & Francesca Amewudah-Rivers / Khameleon Productions
The company came to fruition in 2020, and was officially established after their esteemed performance of Medea — which was adapted by British Ghanaian-Nigeria writer and composer, Francesca Amewudah-Rivers — in 2018 at Oxford University. Euripides’s original story Medea is about the titular main character, “Medea,” who expresses her heartbreak through retaliation against her husband, Jason, for his unfaithfulness. Although the original play includes important topics, the company’s version of the production is characterized as groundbreaking, due to its confrontation with topics such as diversity and identity. As previously stated, the company describes their adaptation of the play to be “uprooted,” stating, “The presentation will explore our creative practice of elevating global-majority artists through multimedia forms including theatre, film, music and poetry.”
This visit is made possible by grants from two professional associations, The Classical Association of the Atlantic States and The Society for Classical Studies. The visit is sponsored by numerous departments at Skidmore: Classics and Theater in partnership with Media and Film Studies and Black Studies, and in collaboration with Union College. Keep a lookout for any more news from the Theater and Classics Departments, as the date of March 8th approaches for any new details on Khameleon Production’s anticipated arrival. In addition, one can find more out about Khameleon Productions on their social media pages: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and their Khameleon Classics podcast.
CORRECTION (March 7th): "During the Capital District residency they are set to hold come early March, Khameleon Productions is coming to Skidmore College for a day to not only perform their “Medea,” but also to visit classes, run workshops, and give a public lecture about their production” changed to read "During the Capital District residency they are set to hold come early March, Khameleon Productions is coming to Skidmore College for a day to visit classes, run workshops, and give a public lecture about their production."