The π-Roject at La MaMa

La MaMa presented Eclipses Group Theater New York, in collaboration with Zishan Ugurlu, artistic director of Actors Without Borders – ITONY in The π-Roject, an innovative performance based on Aeschylus’ The Persians, the oldest surviving play of the western world. The π- Roject was part of La MaMa’s 50 years celebration.

In Aeschylus’ original play, the Greeks were the winners of a historic sea battle against the Persians. Aeschylus, an eyewitness to the battle, chose to write the play not from the side of the Greeks, but from the side of the enemy—“the other.” The play is about the loss and decline of a nation and the radical changes that followed, all experienced through the self-examination and criticism that their grief and pain induces.

In the present day, Greece is experiencing one of the most difficult times in modern history, a cataclysmic financial war. The Greek nation is in a state of shock, as the financial collapse causes a rapid change in the life of Greek citizens. Unemployment, loss of wealth and immigration are part of the western world's new reality. 

As an era ends, a new one must begin.