Home > Public Resources > Trauma Blog > 2020 - April > Oedipus Project: Free Zoom Broadcast May 7th, 2020 Oedipus Project: Free Zoom Broadcast May 7th, 2020 Harold Kudler and Howard Lipke April 26, 2020 Dear Fellow ISTSS Members: As many of you know, Howard Lipke and I have long coedited the Trauma and World Literature column in StressPoints. Through it, we’ve learned that our members are often inspired by connections they find between what they learn as clinicians, researchers and policy makers and the way in which these same human responses are mirrored in literature and other art forms. For that reason, I’m writing now to alert you to the upcoming May 7th free Zoom broadcast of the Oedipus Project directed by Bryan Doerries, the actor and classist whose Theater of War (www.theaterofwar.com) has been performed on military bases and at universities and theaters around the world with support from the U.S. Department of Defense among others. The Oedipus Project will present dramatic readings from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex as a catalyst for powerful, guided conversations about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals, families, and communities. It will premiere on May 7 at 7pm Eastern Time, featuring a distinguished cast that includes: Frances McDormand, John Turturro, Oscar Isaac, Jeffrey Wright, Frankie Faison, David Strathairn, and NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Oedipus Rex is a timeless story about arrogant leadership, ignored prophecy, and a pestilence that ravages the city of Thebes. When the play was first performed, in 429 BC, the audience was recovering from a plague that killed nearly one-third of the Athenian population. Seen through this lens, Oedipus Rex might be as relevant now as it was in its own time. Doerries’ project reflects insights drawn from the works of Jonathan Shay, longtime ISTSS member and the author of Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America. Shay pointed out that much of what has come down to us from Greek theater originally developed as a very deliberate form of cathartic therapy for veterans of Athens’ wars as they transitioned back into civilian life. I have attached the cast flyer and the Eventbrite link is: www.oedipusproject.eventbrite.com. Attendance is free but you need to register. I join Bryan Doerries in inviting you to attend at 7 pm Eastern Time on May 7. Please feel free to share this invitation widely! My best, Harold