The title of this collection of theatrical studies is related to the first chapter, as well as the others (except for the last one), insofar as the analysis and interpretation of dramaturgy is an area of research completely integrated into the scientific inquiries of theater studies.

This concern for the theatrical text is shared with philology, although modern Greek drama has not been particularly fortunate and has always remained in the shadow of poetry and prose regarding philological investigation and literary evaluation. This is not solely the fault of the dramatists and the quality of their works, but also of the academic tradition, which treated the theatrical work as the neglected child of research.

Partially to blame are the early historians of modern Greek theater, who began more from practical theater and performances than from the dramatic text, which is, after all, an autonomous literary product, even without stage specification. Only in recent years, with the establishment of theater studies departments in Greek universities, has the stance of the science towards modern Greek drama—except for Cretan theater—become somewhat more affectionate.

This volume is an example of this changed research orientation. It contains the following studies:

• A new script for the Byzantine Passion of Christ?
• The approach to ancient tragedy from Phanariot dramaturgy: the ancient-themed and ancient-mythic tragedies of Iak. Rizou Neroulou (1813-1814) and their reception
• The turn of Romanticism towards the religious Middle Ages. "The Messiah or The Passion of Jesus Christ" by Panagiotis Soutsos (1839) and "Christ Suffering"
• The early dramatic works of Grigoriou Xenopoulos, namely the (almost) failed theatrical career of the Nestor of Greek dramaturgy at the turn of the century
• Laudatio for Jules Dassin. A celebratory speech in the ceremony hall of the University of Athens on November 29, 1999, on the occasion of the awarding of the title of honorary doctorate from the Department of Theater Studies to the author