By Amanda Mobley Guenther

World-class art performances remain this spring through the Interdisciplinary Arts Symposium, a project of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts.

This year’s theme is “Ancient World through Modern Eyes.” This is the fourth season for a program that seeks to “place performing arts in a broader, more meaningful context, create a diverse audience for performances and bring world-class performance and scholarship” to UNL and Lincoln.

Target Margin Theatre will perform “The Argument” and “The Dinner Party” on April 23-24. / Courtesy photo

The Target Margin Theater of Brooklyn, N.Y., will conclude the season with two short plays based on two classical literary works.

“The Argument” and “The Dinner Party” will be performed at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 23, and Wednesday, April 24. Both short plays will be performed both nights at the Johnny Carson Theatre on the UNL campus.

This theater company is constantly stretching the concept of what can take place in theater, according to its founder and director, David Herskovits.

“The Argument” is a one-man monologue, performed by David Greenspan, based both on Aristotle’s “Poetics” and the essays of Gerald F. Else. “The Dinner Party” is a group of pieces based on Plato’s “Symposium.”

“These are of great interest,” Garelick said, “because they are contemporary interpretations, not of ancient dramas, but of philosophical texts.”

The audience needs to have no prior knowledge or familiarity with these classical works to enjoy the interpretations, Garelick said.

Herskovits will speak at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, April 11 at the Jackie Gaughan Multicultural Center. Garelick expects him to speak about why he chose to adapt these works into dramatic performances, his interpretation of Greek philosophy’s relevance to contemporary drama and how he arrives at his directional vision.

“I think it’s our best season ever,” Garelick said.