A young refugee stands blindfolded in the middle of a bare stage. She shakes as a man in camouflage holds a knife to her throat. Audience members cringe as crimson pours down her jeans and t-shirt.

She could be a Romanov in the Russian Revolution, a Vietnamese child during the war, a woman in today’s Afghanistan. But though this is a tale of modern-day international politics, her dialogue was crafted millennia ago by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides.

In a new twist on the classic tragedy The Children of Herakles, Director Peter M. Sellars ’80 puts policymakers, journalists and Boston-area refugees on stage to make a political statement about the plight of displaced persons.

This production, now playing at the American Repertory Theater (ART), marks the eighth professional staging of Euripides’ little-known tragedy about children who are forced to flee their homeland after their father’s death. Sellars’ adaptation was recently performed in Germany, Italy and France, each time with a dramatically different dynamic, according to the director, who now brings the show to the United States for the first time.

Sellars, who was born in Pittsburgh in 1957, is world-famous for staging bizarre twists on classic drama. With his short frame dressed in bright colors and elaborate accessories, Sellars speaks slowly and never breaks eye contact. He smiles frequently from beneath a shock of brown hair that resembles Astroturf.

A friend introduced him to Herakles five years ago, but after Sept. 11 Sellars says he felt the show—written in 430 B.C.—was especially appropriate.

“Art needs a reality compass and the reality needs art,” he says. “You won’t believe how utterly contemporary it is—the language is so vivid…15 minutes in you find yourself breathing differently. You appreciate [Euripides’] art, you really open your heart.”

It’s All Greek to Me

Sellars uses a traditional translation, in part, he says, to avoid accusations that he twisted Euripides’ Greek to fit a political agenda.

“This is not propaganda, it’s about fairness and opening the issues to discussion,” he says.

Audiences attending Herakles this month see more than just a play—they will participate in a five-hour event.

Before each performance, a different group of local scholars and policymakers are interviewed by journalist Christopher Lydon, and Boston-area refugees share their stories.

After the play, the audience can speak with both the cast and the refugee participants over food prepared by local immigrant communities.

To end the night, Sellars, in conjunction with the Harvard Film Archive, chose non-documentary films to provide an artistic perspective on the plight of refugees.

“Film humanizes,” he says. “It’s not a problem, it’s people, and their family is so close to yours you can’t believe it.”