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OK Odysseus

Press Play for Your Welcome from Karla Boos

Welcome to our Odyssey.

All of us at Quantum Theatre are happy to have you with us on a journey in Schenley Park. This interactive audio experience will lead you throughout the park to listen to audio selections from Homer’s original text, in a classic translation by Robert Fagles, followed by contemporary readings from our adaptation by Jay Ball. Quantum Theatre staff and returning artists will be your company on this Odyssey through Schenley Park, so keep your ears perked for familiar voices that you will hear once again, come the return of in-person performances.

Jay Ball used the recent translation of The Odyssey by Emily Wilson as a point of departure. Through her writers’ sensibility, she gave the ancient words an encounter with a 21st century value system, and Jay nudged the poem even further into the immediate, fraught, present. The sound of a gong marks the transition from ancient text to present interpretation.

We hope you’ll join us in thinking about what it means to be a hero. Has that changed? How does it burden those we designate our heroes? What do we expect from them? And what does that mean about us? There are no answers, only our thoughts and yours, and this beautiful park.

How to Participate

roman column

Look for the QR Codes located on our columns throughout the park.

Simply scan these codes using the camera application or a QR Code scanner on your phone. If you are having difficulty scanning the code, you may type the URL on the sign into your web browser. Both will take you to the same location. When you are prompted to visit our website, do so.

You will then see a media player with a play button, as well as a map that may help guide you to the next portion of the story. Tap or click play and enjoy that portion of OK, Odysseus, before journeying on to your next column.

QR Code
roman column
OK Odysseus Map

Story Shortcuts:

Part I (You Are Here)

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Supported by UPMC