Wow. After seeing Oedipus El Rey at The Public Theater, I don’t begrudge playwright Luis Alfaro his MacArthur Fellowship. It’s also known as the "Genius" Grant, but the MacArthur folk don’t like it when you call it that. In this case, however, it definitely applies. Alfaro takes the Oedipus story and sets it in the modern day Chicano gang culture of Southern California which is something only... Read more


In collaboration with The Sol Project, the Public Theater presents the New York premiere of Luis Alfaro's Oedipus El Rey.
Performances take place in the Public's Shiva Theater.
(Photos by Joan Marcus)
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Oedipus El Rey Image and Video Gallery

Set in South Central LA, Oedipus El Rey is a new take on the Greek tragedy. Oedipus is reimagined as a troubled Latino whose dreams of controlling his own destiny soar above the barbed wire of the prison where he's spent his life. But in a place where everyone is trapped—by desperation or fate, history or violence—no one man can change his story alone. Love, family and belief collide in this chilling, incredibly powerful new play that asks: what's fate, and what's just the system?