Piercing Terra Incognita
I was born on the green and beautiful island of Zakynthos, also known as Zante. It’s part of the Ionian chain of the Seven Islands, along with Corfu, Kefallonia, and four smaller islands.
People called Zakynthos the Flower of the Orient for its floral profusion in spring and summer. Winter, though, was cold. The wind struck us with daggers of ice. We had no central heating, but burned coals in a brazier, blowing on them as hard as we could to kindle the fire and make its small warmth for us. We sat evenings around it, listening to our father’s stories of military life until our eyes drooped and our mother pronounced us ready for bed. She put it more poetically, summoning us to the palace of Morpheus. Nothing was done in Zakynthos without a touch of poetry.
Spring brought the pink cyclamens we called the little girls, fields ablaze with poppies, and the daffodils we called manousakia with their white petals and yellow hearts. Then we believed ourselves blessed. The year was marked by serenading under the windows of nubile girls and the surreptitious exchange of love notes with their vows of eternal fidelity. On the festival days of our patron saint, Dionysos, the lame and the mad were led in procession to be cured. Such was our round. One day, I found it monotonous. Paradise had become a place to escape.
I have talked about this painful period at length in my memoir, Sister of Darkness. I was very close to my family, and bewildered by the impulse to leave them. I only knew that I had to go, and explore the world beyond the island.
With the help of a family friend, I moved to Athens. With its glorious history, its theaters and concerts, its boutiques and night life, it seemed a magical place to me. ne dream unrolled after another. I entered the conservatory, and at the same time started a theatrical and literary career. No single ambition satisfied me. I wanted to do everything, be everything. I never thought of stopping.
Soon I had a magnum cum laudedegree in piano. I studied drama with the celebrated Karolos Koun, who registered approval or disapproval with the flick of an eyebrow or the barest frown. I published a book of short stories. From the Riviera, Nikos Kazantzakis encouraged me.
The game had its rules though, and the rules were set by men. If you played many games as I did, the cost was steep, and sex was the price of everything. It demeaned whatever I did. Soon Athens became constricting, as my island had been. There was nowhere else in Greece to go. I had to leave my homeland as well. But how? I had no money, I knew no one abroad. My family, which had followed me to Athens, thought I needed exorcism. Certainly, a demon had possessed me. I was no Eurydice but an Orpheus, for whom there could be no looking back.
I went first to Germany, and then to America, for me the ultimate terra incognita. The costs of this voyage are also detailed in my memoir. I took, of course, my culture and my heritage with me, and the desire to share it. In America, I got a second degree in theater from the University of Miami. I began to perform my one-woman shows all over the country, and to offer master classes in classical drama. The seamstresses of the Greek National Theater in Athens made a clamyda and chiton for me, the garb of the ancient theater. They refused payment, and said I honored them. The robes are a deep blue, and when I wear them I feel as if something divine touches me, something that connects me to the deepest roots of my culture.
My first show was called “The Greek Woman Through the Ages.” It celebrated a womanhood that, even in my time, had still been subject to age-old patriarchal strictures and constraints. In “Freedom or Death,” I depicted my country’s struggle for liberty, a liberty that has become the birthright of the world. More recently, I have dramatized my own story, Sister of Darkness, and one of my books of poems, Women of Fire and Blood, which rewrites ancient myths from a modern perspective. I’ve had the privilege of performing these works around the world, and of having my own writings translated into several languages.
My journey continues. • 2011
Written exclusively for “The Soul of the American Actor”
LILA BETA Actress/Author, Lili Bita was born on the island of Zante (Zakynthos). A graduate from the Greek Conservatory of Athens and the Athens School of Drama, she performed on the Athens stage and with leading Greek repertory companies. He one-woman shows include “The Greek Woman Through the Ages” and “Freedom or Death.” She has taught at numerous American universities, most recently at Villanova University. She was Artist in Residence at Drexel University, and toured India under the auspices of the Greek government. Ms. Beta has offered master classes on the art of drama in more than fifty American universities. Her verse has been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, and Bengali. Her works and poetry include: “Steps on the Earth;” “Zero Hour;” “The Scorpion and Other Stories;” “Lightning in the Flesh;” “Furies,” with a preface by Anaïs Nin;” “Blood Sketches;” “Sacrifice, Exile, Night;” Fleshfire;” “Firewalkers;” “Bacchic Odes;” “Excavations;” “Striking the Sky;” “Lethe;” “Lightning in the Flesh;” “New and Selected Poems;” “Women of Fire and Blood;” and “Sister of Darkness,” her memoir adapted as a one-woman play. Her other plays include “Hyena, Bars;” “Sundays in the Cemetery;” “The Judge;” and “The First Lady of Adrian.” Early in her career, Anaïs Nin wrote of her: “Lili Bita fulfills her promise. . . . Her words are strong, body and soul in balance. Her vision is direct, unifying and complete.”
