2008-2009 Season
For ticket information call the Coe Box Office at 319-399-8600, Monday-Friday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
A trip by train can be derailed by many things: a break in the track, schedules delayed or missed, the threat of a suicide bombing. But it is a deep-rooted American phenomenon, called racism, that has derailed the two train journeys in Florence and Dutchman, set respectively in the 1950s and the 1970s . . . and, as we move into the general election of 2008, these plays remind us of the ways in which racism still may be derailing our interior journeys within the U.S.
A story as old as time and as shocking as today’s headlines, Sophocles’ Electra is a larger-than-life tragedy of family betrayal, cold-blooded murder, civil war, and political intrigue. In Frank McGuinness’ terse, tense, and vibrant English adaptation, this ancient Greek revenge play exposes the pain of emotional loss and crippling, obsessive sorrow.
A central theme of this erudite, witty comedy is the interrelationship between the past and present, and the unpredictability of either. The play explores both the passage and the juxtaposition of time—from the Age of Enlightenment to the Romantic Era, from Newtonian determinism to chaos theory, from 18th century neoclassical landscape architecture to the picturesque wildness of 19th century gardens—all within the context of a contemporary detective story about sexual and academic philandering.