A TROJAN WOMAN Opens This Friday at Luna Stage

Luna-Stage/">Luna Stage will present the National Premiere of A Trojan Woman, a searing solo performance adapted from Euripides by Maplewood resident Sara Farrington, directed by Meghan Finn and starring Drita Kabashi.

Commissioned by the The Interbalkan Festival of Ancient Drama, the play recently premiered at Theatro Attikou Aldous/Katina Paxinou Attica Grove Theater in Greece. As Farrington said, “We we had the great privilege of performing this piece as Euripides did, in an open air amphitheater in Athens.”

A Trojan Woman comes to Luna for a two-week run from March 15 – March 24. It plays Fridays at 8:00 p.m, Saturdays at 3:00 p.m and 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m., with special midweek performances Monday March 18 at 8pm and an added matinee on Thursday, March 21 at 1:00 p.m. Tickets are $10-$40 at lunastage.org/trojanwoman.

Farrington adapted Euripides’ classic tragedy into a searing contemporary solo performanc. In a flash of modern warfare (Ukraine? Afghanistan? Vietnam? Poland? Hiroshima? Israel? Gaza?), a mother loses her child. She becomes a Trojan woman, compelled to embody every iconic character in Euripides’ classic play. 

“I love the Greek tragedies and playwrights so much,” said playwright Farrington.

Euripides’ The Trojan Women “was the first ever anti-war play. Everything Euripides was protesting in 415 BC still needs protesting now.”

“My version, A Trojan Woman, exists inside an act of modern warfare, specifically, an early moment in the Russian war against Ukraine that affected me deeply. Tetiana Perebyinis, 43 and her two kids, Mykyta, 18 and Alisa, 9, were killed as they fled on foot from their suburb of Irpin to Kyiv. The moment was photographed by Lynsey Addario of The New York Times and came to represent Russian brutality upon Ukrainian civilians,” said Farrington. “The ancient Greek part of this play exists inside that moment of attack and the performer's realization of it.”

A Trojan Woman performs in Luna’s intimate 50-seat studio theatre. It is directed by Meghan Finn, stars Drita Kabashi, and features lighting design by David Heguy. It is produced in assocition with TankNYC.

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