Ninja Days Photo Blog

The Cleveland Museum of Art is attracting some real characters these days. The Cleveland-based theater company, Theater Ninjas, performs “The Excavation,” a site-specific performance complementing The Last Days of Pompeii, in the atrium on select days. On Fridays and Sundays, The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection exhibition hosts Ninja Days, a revolving door of characters providing an interactive experience for visitors. The personas range from a sleepwalker draped in white linen to a fast-talking Italian archeologist, all of whom embody the layers of emotions and experiences illustrated in this dramatic exhibition. Through May 19, Ninja Days will be held on Fridays from 3-7 p.m. and Sundays from 12-4 p.m. and an exhibition ticket is required. Below is some of the cast we encountered on a recent Ninja Day.

Professor Janice Quirrel shows visitors "artifacts" from Pompeii.

An exuberant gentleman named Erato discusses his passion for art with visitors.

Italian archaeologist Dr. Luigi Antonio Orsini de Graze gets some laughs conducting "tours" of the exhibition.

This Roman couple seems confused by the modern aspects of the exhibition.

A curator quietly writes in his notebook in the midst of the Rothko paintings.

A hooded figure named Byron reads words of doom & gloom in the Apocalypse room.

A sleepwalker slowly makes her way through each room.

Maurice Beatrice Carstairs Pitts, the world's second foremost orator, reads some passages aloud.

—Therese Conway