On Sept. 25, honors students and Professor Clinton Armstrong, Professor of History and Theology, took their annual trip to the Getty Villa in Los Angeles to watch “Memnon.”

The Getty trip was meant to engage students in ancient Greek culture, starting the night off at the Getty Villa. After being able to enjoy each other’s company and engage in fellowship on the hour long drive up north, students sat outside at the Getty’s open stage – similar to open air stadiums of ancient Greece – to watch the live theater performance of “Memnon.”

“Memnon,” written by Will Powers, is a modern adaptation of a conceptualized idea of what the ancient story of Memnon would have been if it wasn’t lost. Nicole Kramer, sophomore, feeling impacted by how special the nature of the writing and the performance was, said “I thought a lot about how deeply these Greek and Trojan characters have impacted people over the years in order for someone to try to reconstruct a lost play about said characters. They are iconic figures of plays and epic poetry that despite their age, are resoundingly relevant and human through the ages.”

The show itself and the Villa were closed off to just college students for the night to get an exclusive experience. After the play ended, the students were able to engage in a live talk-back, where the actors and author of the play were there to answer any questions that the students had. Camille Beeson, junior, said, “I was particularly interested by the use of violence onstage,” which was the author’s choice despite it being forbidden in ancient Greek theater, and was given the special opportunity to ask the author himself about his writing choices.

After the play ended, the students got a personal tour from Armstrong, who has always had a love for the classical world, and even did his Ph.D. “specializing in the literary culture of the classical world of Greek and Rome.” Beeson said, “Vibrant discussions about Greek culture and history led to many new realizations for me.” 

Students were able to ask Armstrong questions about art and artifacts that the Villa has to offer. Kramer felt the tour taught her a lot. “I was thinking about the intricacy of all the statues and jugs, and how the Greeks prized the beauty of certain everyday objects far above their usefulness, for all the time and skill they poured into making things far prettier than they needed to be,” she said.

Once the Villa closed for the night, the students headed to Westwood to eat at a Greek restaurant called Nick the Greek. Not only did students get to hear and see Greek culture through engagement with theater and the Villa, they got to taste delicious Greek food to end the night. Getting food afterward has always been a tradition, but specifically going to Nick the Greek started post-Covid. Armstrong said, “ I like their ambience, with lots of Greek words on their walls and vocabulary and etymology lessons while we are eating our gyros and baklava.”

Kramer described that the experience as a whole gave her new insight on Greek Culture. She said, “I was reminded about how deeply Greco-Roman culture has shaped the western tradition, and how these characters – Helen, Priam, Achilles, etc. – are people we still read about because they are both larger than life and innately flawed and human. They are reflections of all we are and all we hope to be in many ways, and this show made that very clear to me.”

This annual experience is open to any students interested. Armstrong said, “I open up this trip every year to honors students first, but I also want to prioritize students who have a love for the ancient world, ancient history, theater, drama, art, and ultimately, anyone interested in learning things about the classics that they didn’t know before.”

Kramer encourages students to consider attending this trip in the future “because it gives you the opportunity to go back in time briefly and imagine how the Greeks would have thought about poetry and love and tragedy and art, and to get lost in the architectural beauty of the villa, and to have good conversations with people about the art you get to witness together.”

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