Bryan Doerries

"For years, theater director Bryan Doerries has led an innovative public health project that produces ancient tragedies for current and returned soldiers, addicts, tornado and hurricane survivors, and a wide range of other at-risk people in society. Drawing on these extraordinary firsthand experiences, Doerries clearly and powerfully illustrates the redemptive and therapeutic potential of this classical, timeless art: how, for example, Ajax can help soldiers and their loved ones better understand and grapple with PTSD, or how Prometheus Bound provides new insights into the modern penal system."--Jacket flap.

What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today

The Theater of War

For years theater director Bryan Doerries has been producing ancient Greek tragedies for a wide range of at-risk people in society. His is the personal and deeply passionate story of a life devoted to reclaiming the timeless power of an ancient artistic tradition to comfort the afflicted. Doerries leads an innovative public health project—Theater of War—that produces ancient dramas for current and returned soldiers, people in recovery from alcohol and substance abuse, tornado and hurricane survivors, and more. Tracing a path that links the personal to the artistic to the social and back again, Doerries shows us how suffering and healing are part of a timeless process in which dialogue and empathy are inextricably linked. The originality and generosity of Doerries’s work is startling, and The Theater of War—wholly unsentimental, but intensely felt and emotionally engaging—is a humane, knowledgeable, and accessible book that will both inspire and enlighten.

Sophocles

New Versions of Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone

Oedipus Trilogy

The Trojan War has been raging for nine long years. Desperate for victory and a return home, the Greeks have been told by a seer that there is only one way to defeat Troy: the great archer Philoctetes and his magical bow must be returned from exile. The Greek army had abandoned Philoctetes years earlier on the remote island of Lemnos after he was bitten by a snake and afflicted by a mysterious illness on the way to Troy. Now, it falls to Odysseus and the young officer Neoptolemus to travel back to Lemnos and trick Philoctetes into joining the battle against the Trojans. But when Neoptolemus confronts his quarry, he finds his task more difficult than anticipated. Sophocles Sophocles' play is a timeless story of deception, loyalty and betrayal. This vital and accessible new translation by Brian Doeries brings it powerfully to life. www.outsidethewirellc.com www.facebook.com/theaterofwar

A New Translation

Philoctetes

"This graphic novel uses an ancient story of conflict, displacement, and longing for home to draw attention to the plight of the modern soldier eve of returning home after a grueling tour in Afghanistan, Sgt. Jack Brennan gathers his troops together for one final chat. But instead of a simple farewell, Brennan tells his soldiers the story of Homeras "Odyssey" connecting their experiences to the ancient epic. For instance, post-conflict drug addiction is related to Odysseusas menas reluctance to leave the land of the lotus eaters, and erratic, stimulus-seeking behavior by soldiers suffering from PTSD is compared Elpinoras death by misadventure on the island of Circe."--Provided by publisher.

Bryan Doerries

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