“Image is so cheap,” says Sellars, “Euripides gives image a microphone and makes it real people.”

Sellars says he wanted to point out the parallels between the U.S. and the Greeks.

“These are the people who invented theater and democracy. They go together,” he says. “You hire a poet so there’s hope. Government is not good on the hope side of things.”

He cocks his head to the side, stroking the buttons on his Chinese collared orange jacket.

“Democracy is really just about people sharing space with each other. That’s what theater is,” he says.

Sellars says his show will challenge stereotypes of refugees as criminals.

“These are the very people who will be able to put the pieces together and make the world safer.”

—The Children of Herakles runs until Jan. 25 in the Loeb Drama Center at 64 Brattle St.

—Irin Carmon contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Kristi L. Jobson can be reached at jobson@fas.harvard.edu.