Among the few theater pieces still legend in local avant-garde circles is the 1986 Littell-Schweizer-Frankel version of Plato's Symposium. A modern interpretation of the ancient Greek text in which nine philosophers meet in a salon and discuss the meanings and permutations of love, the staging made use of slides and an original score by Frankel, who has since died of complications from AIDS.
—Jan Breslauer, "Aria Ready For This?" (article about Philip Littell)
Los Angeles Times, January 19, 1992

"I've been trying to get people to read Plato for years," said Jerry Frankel, "and it's always been 'Oh, that's the kind of thing Jerry does. He likes to read Plato. Good for him.' But now they're going to come -- because we're giving them a treat."

The "treat" is "Plato's Symposium" (opening Thursday, for two weekends at the Powerhouse), a modern staging of the classical text by conceivers/cast members Frankel, Philip Littell and David Schweizer (who also directs).

"The trick of the contemporariness of the work (a dinner party attended by nine philosophers of the 5th Century BC to ruminate on the subject of love) is that very little has changed," said Littell. "We've got equivalents in our own lives. So you don't have to strain at it. The elements of life, the social interaction are much the same."

"There are also parallels, politically, between what's going on now and what was going on in Greece," Frankel said. "The Golden Age was drawing to a close and Athens was engaged in the Peloponnesian War with Sparta, a distinctly militaristic, literally fascistic society; everybody had to be the same, war was the greatest art of life. Athens, considered the center of thought and discourse, was losing.

"And look what's going on in America now, where the intellectuals are being challenged, terms are being used like 'secular humanism.' We're facing the LaRouche initiative (advocating the quarantine of AIDS victims and carriers). This is serious."

...seeing, Frankel noted, will likely take a back seat to hearing: "We're not denying that we're using modern theatrical techniques (a slide show, his original musical score) to enhance the text. But it's great to work in a show that's really about words and thought."
—Janice Arkatov, "'Plato's Symposium': Modern Times With A Classical View"
Los Angeles Times, July 29, 1986

WORKS:

Plato's Symposium
By the collaborators/performers of the multimedia Modern Artists Company, including John Fleck, Tony Abatemarco, Steve Levitt, Jan Munroe, Daniel Shor and Ray Underwood
Conceived by director David Schweizer, musician/composer/actor Jerry Frankel and performance artist Philip Littell
Original score by Jerry Frankel
Produced at The Powerhouse Theatre, Santa Monica, CA (1986)

The Weba Show
Collaboration by David Schweizer, Jerry Frankel and Philip Littell
Produced in Los Angeles

UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
Unknown

WRITINGS:
Unknown

DISCOGRAPHY:
No professionally released recordings

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• "A Plato Update At The Powerhouse" (review of Plato's Symposium) by Ray Loynd, Los Angeles Times, August 6, 1986.
• "'Plato's Symposium': Modern Times With A Classical View" by Janice Arkatov, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 1986.
• "Aria Ready For This?" by Jan Breslauer (mention of Frankel and Plato's Symposium in article about Philip Littell), Los Angeles Times, January 19, 1992.

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
Unknown

RESOURCES:
Unknown

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Unknown

OTHER CONTACTS:
Unknown