GOVERNMENT

LOS ANGELES, CA -- A group of innovative artists at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, armed with groundbreaking computer software, is poised to retell one of the oldest stories in Western literature -- Homer’s “Iliad” -- in a bold new way. The team at UCLA’s HyperMedia Studio is targeting all of their resources, both artistic and technological, into a tactile and chilling retelling of Homer’s bloody tale of war, pride and misplaced political alliances. “The Iliad Project,” as it is currently called, will culminate this summer in a series of events including interactive performances with audience participation, seminars and discussions. Led by digital media artist and professor of film Fabian Wagmister, the group is busy experimenting with advanced sensing technologies, distributed networks, show control, automated production systems and digital multimedia software. Wagmister’s cutting-edge work has already been seen internationally in Germany, France and Central and South America. Also involved in “The Iliad Project” is stage and film director and professor of theater Jose Luis Valenzuela — known to Los Angeles audiences for his work at Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) and The Mark Taper Forum, as well as for his film, “Luminarias.” Consulting on the text for “The Iliad Project” is playwright, screenwriter, professor and current chair of the UCLA Master of Fine Arts Playwriting Program, Edit Villarreal, whose credits include the PBS-produced “Foto-Novelas” series, Part One and Two, as well as the “American Playhouse” production of “La Carpa.” Wagmister, Valenzuela and Villarreal will be working closely with a select group of UCLA graduate students chosen specifically for the project. Playwright Jared Stein and director Adam Shive, both recent graduates of UCLA’s M.F.A. programs in theater, will be returning to the Westwood campus as resident artists to reshape and retell the story of the “Iliad.” Stein and Shive first collaborated during the Francis Ford Coppola One-Act Marathon, held every fall at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. Besides “The Iliad Project,” they are scheduled to work together at LATC in early 2002 on a production of Stein’s “Somewhere in Utopia” and two other new pieces. For “The Iliad Project,” Stein and Shive will be joined by systems designer and HyperMedia Studio Research Fellow Jeff Burke. A recent graduate of UCLA’s Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science with a degree in electrical engineering, Burke will be developing and creating cutting-edge hardware and software systems that will be used for this production and pave the way for further productions. For more information visit www.hypermedia.ucla.edu/iliad/info/