Undermain Theatre Presents THE PERSIANS This May

Undermain Theatre is presenting the final production of its 40th Season: The Persians by Aeschylus adapted by Ellen McLaughlin. This classic production runs May 2 through May 26, 2024. 

Considered the world's oldest existing drama in theater history, The Persians is unique among ancient Greek tragedies in that it dramatizes an event that was contemporary to Ancient Greece rather than events from the distant age of mythical heroes. Its focus is the Battle of Salamis–a battle in which Aeschylus himself fought, won by the Greeks against an overwhelming Persian force in 480 B.C. only eight years before the play premiered in 472 B.C. The Persians focuses sympathetically on the demise of the Persian Empire as the Persian queen Atossa laments the folly of her son Xerxes, and his impetuous invasion of Greece. In an effort to save the empire, the Persian court resurrects the ghost of the former king Darius, who declaims the ruin of his once-great empire. The Persians is the only surviving play in a trilogy that won the first prize in the City Dionysia of Athens in 472 BCE and is presented in this production by a diverse cast and creative team that, through Ellen McLaughlin's riveting adaptation still resonates today. 
Directed by: Kara-Lynn Vaeni

Cast: Thomas Leverton (Herald), Marianne Galloway (Atossa), Mac Welch (Xerxes), Jason Douglas (Chair), Anthony L. Ramirez* (Admiral), Megan Noble (State), Shyama Nithiananda (Religion) and Danny Lovelle (Justice)

Design Team: Scenic Designer; Robert Winn*, Lighting Designer: Carolyn Hodge, Costume Designer: Shahrzad Mazaheri, Sound Designer: David Lanza, Properties Designer: Kaitlin Hatton  - *Undermain Company member

Aeschylus

Aeschylus is often recognized as the father of tragedy, and is the first of the three early Greek tragedians whose plays survive extant (the other two being Sophocles and Euripides). In fact, by expanding the number of characters in plays to allow for conflict among them (previously, only a single character interacted with the Chorus) he was arguably the founder of all serious Greek drama (although some credit that honor to Phrynichus or the even earlier Thespis). Only seven of over seventy plays written by Aeschylus have survived into modern times, the best known being The Oresteia trilogy.

Ellen McLaughlin

Ellen McLaughlin's plays have received numerous national and international productions. They include Days and Nights Within, A Narrow Bed, Infinity's House, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Tongue of a Bird, The Trojan Women, Helen, The Persians, Oedipus, Ajax in Iraq, Kissing the Floor, Septimus and Clarissa, and Penelope. Producers include: The Public Theater, The National Actors' Theater and New York Theater Workshop in NYC, Actors' Theater of Louisville, The Actors' Gang L.A., Classic Stage Co., N.Y., The Intiman Theater, Seattle, Almeida Theater, London, The Mark Taper Forum, L.A., The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Getty Villa, California, and The Guthrie Theater, Minnesota, among other venues.

Grants and awards include: Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, Great American Play Contest, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the NEA, the Writer's Award from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, the Berilla Kerr Award for playwriting. T.C.G./Fox Residency Grant -- for Ajax in Iraq, written for the A.R.T. Institute.

She has taught playwriting at Barnard College since 1995. Other teaching posts include Breadloaf School of English, Yale Drama School and Princeton University, among others.

Ms. McLaughlin is also an actor. She is most well known for having originated the part of the Angel in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, appearing in every U.S. production from its earliest workshops through its Broadway run.

TICKET INFORMATION

Single tickets are on sale now.

The performances will be held at Undermain Theatre, 3200 Main Street in the historic Deep Ellum section of Dallas. 

Tickets prices:

Previews: $15

Thursdays: $20

Fridays: $25

Saturdays: $35

Sunday Matinees: $25

Undermain offers discounts for students and educators, seniors, KERA members, and industry artists. Discounted tickets may be purchased online at undermain.org.

Subscribers may redeem their tickets by contacting development@undermain.org.

ABOUT UNDERMAIN:

Celebrating its 40th season, Undermain Theatre is a company of artists that has produced world premieres, regional premieres and countless re-workings of masterpieces that celebrate language and poetics. Undermain's work stretches beyond its home state of Texas and has reached audiences in New York, Los Angeles, Canada, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia. The San Diego Union Tribune called Undermain “one of the best small theaters in America.” The theater collaborates with playwrights, supports a theater archive and operates a theater under 3200 Main Street in Dallas' legendary Deep Ellum. Since 2019, the Katherine Owens/Undermain Fund for New Work has offered grants to a diverse group of playwrights to develop new work.

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