MSU Honors College headlines Classical Week with Roman comedy performance, Orators lecture

Contact: Lexi Holdiness

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Presented by the Bobby and Judy Shackouls Honors College, Mississippi State’s annual Classical Week returns Tuesday [Sept. 24] with the first performance of the famous Roman comedy “Trinummus,” or “Three-Dollar Day,” followed by this year’s first edition of Orators Lecture Series

For its 12th year, Classical Week is exploring the convergence of humanities and technology with the theme “Writing Humanity’s Next Chapter: Artistic Expressions in the Time of AI.”

The two student performances of the 2,000-year-old script are scheduled for Sept. 24 and 25, 6 p.m., in Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium. Written by Roman playwright Plautus, MSU’s performance of the comedy will showcase creative expression through transformative technologies.

The play, praised for its writing, moral lessons to society and individuality of characters, is an interdisciplinary project between students and faculty of the Shackouls Honors College and Department of Computer Science and Engineering. The all-Honors College cast and production staff includes seven freshmen, four sophomores, a junior and senior.

Donna Clevinger, a senior Shackouls Honors College faculty Fellow and communication professor, thanked CSE Department Head Shahram Rahimi, also the department’s Gloria and Douglas Marchant Endowed Chair and professor, for supporting students as they integrated technology into the performance.

“These students will bring this 2,000-year-old comedy to the 21st century through intersecting creative expression through transformational technologies and AI,” said Clevinger, who is directing the play. “These students have worked very hard and made personal sacrifices to bring this timely story to the stage. They all took their roles seriously and had some fun along the way.”

Thanks to the Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities Initiative of the Society for Classical Studies, the production was awarded funds to defray its costs. An additional Bridge Initiative grant from the Classical Association of the Middle West and South helped fund costumes.

“On behalf of the honors college, we appreciate these scholarly associations looking favorably on our production of our classical play presentation,” Clevinger said.

Unlike recent years, the week’s Orators Series will kick off events with a talk-back discussion period immediately following each performance. In these discussions, students from the play and CSE faculty will discuss and entertain questions based on the Orators’ theme “The Intersection of Creative Expression Through Transformational Technologies.”

Now in its seventh year, the Shackouls Honors College-sponsored lecture series invites speakers from various disciplines to engage and enrich the campus and local community through public forums, panel discussions, seminars, coursework, research and public lectures. Events from the series are scheduled three times a year, typically in September, November and February.

For information contact 662-325-2522 or dclevinger@honors.msstate.edu

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