www.amrep.org/herakles/

Project Description

In 2002 and 2003, a production of The Children of Herakles, written by Euripides and directed by Peter Sellars, toured Europe and the United States. Through the production and civic dialogue opportunities, Sellars sought to address issues of democracy and the global refugee crisis in response to the challenges brought on by September 11.

Written more than 2,400 years ago, the production tells the story of the children of Herakles. After their father's death, the children and their mother, Alkmene, are exiled from their home by King Eurystheus of Argos and flee from country to country in search of sanctuary. They find every border closed to them, but when the refugees approach the walls of Athens they are reluctantly accepted into the city. Eurystheus tracks the family to Athens and goes to war with them; when Eurystheus loses, he is captured. In the end, Alkmene insists that Eurystheus be put to death regardless of the city's laws against capital punishment. Sellars drew a comparison between the city of Athens and the United States by addressing issues of immigration and democracy. Performed in modern dress before a blank white screen in the fashion of a televised contemporary courtroom hearing, Sellars's production featured a chorus of children who were actual refugees; in Germany for instance, the young people were displaced Kurds. Ever present during the performance, the children faced the audience as silent witnesses from inside a rectangular enclosure that suggested a refugee camp. At the end of the performance, when their guardian in the play told them to thank the citizens of Athens for providing them with a safe haven from Eurystheus, the children walked to the audience and thanked the spectators personally for letting them into their country.

Sellars sought to capture the spirit of participatory democracy that provided context to the drama when it was originally performed in ancient Greece. Sellars states, "We're living in a society of spectatorship where people don't vote because they assume that the wheels will keep turning without them and that there's no point in participation." To simulate this sort of participatory democracy, dialogue activities were incorporated into the production. TV commentators and public figures who dealt with foreign­ policy issues were assigned speeches from Euripides that they delivered during the play, shifting from audience members and taking on the role of concerned members of the chorus of Athenian citizens. When prompted, they had a choice to read the script that was provided for them or to improvise their own statement.

Included within program books distributed at the performance was a collection of 11 essays by prominent professionals working with refuge issues, including Aristide Zolbrg from the New School University, Bill Frelick of Amnesty International, and Senator Edward Kennedy. In addition, after many performances, a series was presented by the Harvard Film Archive that featured films that explored a range of contemporary cultural and political experiences, both at borders and within the refugees' nations.

Civic Engagement/Dialogue Activities

Each performance of The Children of Herakles was a two-part event. Part one, approximately 45 minutes long, included a discussion and testimony. In Boston, at the American Repertory Theatre, broadcaster and journalist Christopher Lydon interviewed different policy-makers, refugee aid and relief workers, government workers, immigration judges, lawyers, and scholars, each night regarding the challenges refugees are facing today using a panel-style discussion. Then, refugees now living in the Boston area told the audience their stories. Three human-rights organizations—the Carr Center for Human Rights, the Nobel-Peace Prize winning Physicians for Human Rights, and the International Institute of Boston—worked with Sellars to help recruit Boston refugees and displaced teenagers from Cambodia, Nepal, Ethiopia, El Salvador, Somalia, Sudan, and Brazil for the preperformance discussions and first-hand testimonials. After a short coffee break, the performance of The Children of Herakles began as part two of the program. After the show, a half hour was packaged in for food from the native cultures of immigrants featured in the play and conversation with the cast members and panelists. Finally, after selected evening performances, a series of films was presented, made in countries that are generating large numbers of refugees. After each Saturday matinee, a post-show discussion was moderated by Sellars.

The Children of Herakles toured Europe and the United States again in 2004.

Information Sources

Grantmakers in the Arts Winter 2004 newsletter, American Repertory Theatre website, American Theatre Magazine article "Who will speak for the children?", The Children of Herakles program book and insert