The Oresteia: A Benefit Reading
Fri, Jan 15, 2021 — 5:30 PM
By Ellen McLaughlin
Directed by Eric Ting
“How do we believe in governance when we’ve seen it desecrated? How do we believe in the fundamental good of the human spirit when we’ve seen it at its worst? What do we do in the aftermath of mayhem that has been of our own creation?”
These are questions playwright Ellen McLaughlin shared in light of the upheaval in our nation’s capital. And with the inauguration on the horizon, Cal Shakes is turning to Aeschylus’ The Oresteia — and Ellen’s adaptation that wrestles with its themes of family, war, power, sacrifice, and our collective responsibility to disrupt the tragedies amongst us with mercy, compassion, and grace — as a means of wrestling with our own uncertainties, our own hopes.
The Oresteia was originally intended for the 2020 season, and we didn’t want this unprecedented political moment to pass without sharing it with you.
I hope you’ll join us, along with our extraordinary ensemble of actors, including Margo Hall, Todd Cerveris, Safiya Fredricks, Francesca Fernandez McKenzie, Cathleen Riddley, Stacy Ross, Sharon Shao, Liz Sklar, Victor Talmadge, Dane Troy, and Phil Wong, in a benefit reading of the chronicle of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and their children — Iphigenia, Electra, and Orestes — and the tragic tale of the fall of the House of Atreus.
Reserve your free ticket below. We planned to offer this reading as a paid ticketed event, but, in light of current events, it feels vital to us that we are all invited to participate in the civic discourse of our nation.