The Greek Plays 2: Ajax in Iraq, Kissing the Floor, Penelope, Mercurys Footpath, and The Oresteia

(Paperback)

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Ellen McLaughlin returns with a new collection of adaptations and modern reimaginings of classic Greek tragedies. Drawing on works by Sophocles, Homer, Aeschylus and more, these plays breathe fresh life into timeless questions and conflicts that still feel startlingly relevant today: Can civilization survive humanitys basest instincts What do we do about the human compulsion toward violence Are we irreversibly transformed by the trauma of war and political strife, or is there a chance we can recover a part of our former selves This collection includes the plays Ajax in Iraq (from Sophocles), Kissing the Floor (Sophocles), Penelope (Homer), Mercurys Footpath (Euripides), and The Oresteia (based on Aeschylus trilogy Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides).

Reviews

"Ellen McLaughlin is a dramatist of courage, intelligence, wit and lyricism... Her drama is the drama of witness, predicated on a deep faith in human sympathy: if she can describe precisely what sorrows our wickedness, confusion or indifference occasions, if she can make it possible for us to empathize with others who are suffering, we will surely change our ways and our world."

-- "Tony Kushner"

"Deftly evokes sensations of abandonment, agitation, grief and reconciliation"

-- "The New York Times on Penelope"

"If art is a public service, then McLaughlin has served her public well. With Ajax in Iraq she presents a stark truth about the cost of war: while our enemies are those that would do us harm, the greater enemy is war itself."

-- "Hollywood Reporter on Ajax in Iraq"

"Playwright Ellen McLaughlin's potent assault on sexual abuse in the military by way of the titular legendary Greek warrior is raw, provocative, poetic and indelible."

-- "Los Angeles Times on Ajax in Iraq"

"Reminds us that a 2,400-year-old work can still feel appallingly familiar."

-- "The New York Times on The Oresteia"
"A hauntingly vivid psychological portrait."-- "Pitchfork Magazine on Penelope"

Author Bio

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 Theatre and New York Theatre Workshop in NYC; Actors Theatre of Louisville; The Actors' Gang L.A.; Classic Stage Company, NYC; 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, and the Berilla Kerr Award for playwriting. She received a TCG/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 School of Drama, 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 original Broadway run.