Iphigenia Crash Lands

I see a lot of plays, and like to talk about one I've just seen.

November 11 I saw The play "Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell That Was Once Her Heart,"
Son of Semele,
The Studio Space, 1239 W. First St. L.A.
800-838-3006
Friday, Saturday-8 pm, Sunday at 7 pm
Through December 3

Iphigenia is the pampered daughter of a Latin American dictator/general about to l0se the election so he decides to scrifice his daughter in order to get elected. She runs away to a rave. On the way she meets the ghosts of the mudredered women of Juarez. It's pretty fascinating in a a theater on a little hill just west of and overlooking downtown Los Angeles. I'm teaching the Hector Tovar's novel "The Tatooed Soldier" where its homeless Guatemalan hero camps out on a little hill just west overlooking downtown LA, and going to this theater I felt I stepped inside the novel.

The theater had a large stage hung with huge video screens on two sides and a DJ to the left front. As we watched the action, we often saw the same characters on the video. The playwright says the play exists in a'world where Greek tragedy meets modern media, rave culture, androgyny, and the oppressed." Well, the playwright's 100% right. The Greek tragedy about the general Agamemmon sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia to get a wind to sail his army to conquer Troy seemed to be brilliantly updated in this fictional Latin American dictatorship where women are routinely sacrified so men can advance in power. Go see this one if you can.

When I called up the number to order the tickets, the voice said Brown Bag was a fair trade ticketing company, and asked if I was a union member, senior, or student. I said, "Union member." So the ticket was $16 rather than the normal price of $18.