The Oresteia 

Aren’t we better than our worst crimes? Are we just going to go on trading blood endlessly back and forth? What is the sense of that? Aren’t we tired? 

When King Agamemnon returns home from the Trojan War, he finds his wife Clytemnestra waiting to take her revenge for his slaughter of their innocent daughter Iphigenia. Violence begets violence and the cycle continues, cursing the house’s descendants. The community, haunted by the sins of the present and the past, must then decide how to cleanse the royal house and balance both the need for justice and the desire for absolution. In her stunning new adaptation of Aeschylus’ ancient Greek drama, celebrated playwright Ellen McLaughlin challenges us today to embrace our collective responsibility for compassion and mercy in the face of uncertainty, enmity, and discord.  

An MFA thesis production.

The Oresteia
By Ellen McLaughlin
Directed by Amanda Rountree
Performances February 23 - March 5, 2023
Previews February 18 & 21
Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse

Content Warnings:

• Mature themes
• Depictions of stylized blood and violence

Production Warnings:

• Haze/smoke
• Flickering lights, which occur for roughly one minute in Act 1

This production may be appropriate for audiences 12 and older--, however, parents should be prepared to have conversations about mature themes in this story.