"A Trojan Woman" by Stop the Wind Theatricals at Mixed Blood Theatre

NYC-based company Stop the Wind Theatricals premiered their original one-act solo version of Euripides' The Trojan Women in 2023 in Athens, where the story originated a few millennia ago. The show is now embarking on a tour of US Sanctuary Cities, beginning right here in Minneapolis, where the opening scene which repeats the line "they don't kill civilians" is particularly affecting (because we know from recent experience that they do). Director Meghan Finn notes in the program that Euripides' play is "the first recorded ani-war play." Nearly two and a half centuries later, A Trojan Woman continues to be relevant and necessary. Wars, violence, and the killing of civilians hasn't stopped. I've recently been watching History Channel's excellent new WWII docuseries narrated by Tom Hanks, and during the deadliest war in history they most certainly did kill civilians. They killed civilians in Poland, Germany, London, China, the Soviet Union, not by accident, but as an intentional strategy to wear down the enemy, or to get rid of people they thought threatening. This play is about the survivors, particularly the women, of the Trojan War, but this version feels like it could be about any of the numerous wars playing out across the globe today. Despite the short 70-minute runtime, A Trojan Woman is a powerful and epic journey that feels devastating in its modernity. Mixed Blood Theatre is hosting the production in their firehouse theater through this Sunday only.

This version of the play is titled in the singular, because there is only one woman on stage, but she is all  the women, and men, and children, and gods. Madelyn Robinson (alternating with India Shea for this run) embodies all of these mythical beings as she tells the story of Queen Hecuba of Troy, who is mourning the deaths of her husband and all but one of her children, the reluctantly prophetic Cassandra. Madelyn begins the play as a citizen, fleeing war with her son, looking for safety. She encounters Hecuba, and one by one many of the characters in this story enter, and exit, as they're announced. Each one is specific, differentiated by voice or body carriage or attitude, and by a unique prop found in the rubble - a laundry basket for Hecuba, a chain for Paris, umbrellas for the chorus of women, a lantern for Cassandra, a helmet for Menelaus, a clipboard for the Greek herald who assigns the women their fates. There's no happy ending here, or really an ending at all, the survivors just continue to survive.

Using modern language, NYC-based playwright Sara Farrington has succinctly condensed the story into a character study, primarily of Hecuba, but also the others affected by the war. Don't worry if you're not familiar with the play or the characters, they're introduced clearly, and the themes and emotions are clear even if you're not certain where everyone fits in the mythology. I was sure I had seen this play before, but my archives show I have not, although I have seen several related plays, most recently Pangea World Theater's production of Irish playwright Marina Carr's retelling of Euripides' Hecuba, featuring many of the same characters. These stories are ingrained in our culture, a part of our story whether we're aware of it or not (see also the upcoming new blockbuster action movie The Odyssey; spoiler alert: Odysseus is no hero in this story).

The play is simply staged, Mixed Blood's black box theater returned to a proscenium setup with the stage on the right as you walk in. Against a backdrop that looks like crumpled black fabric, transformed into something else through lighting, the story plays out inside a circle on the stage, an almost claustrophobic feeling as these characters are unable to escape no matter how hard they try. Inside the circle is the debris of war, the citizen removing her modern-day puffy coat to reveal a Grecian blue flowing dress. Far from stagnant, the play feels vibrant and dynamic, despite, or maybe because of, the confined space. (Scenic design by Christopher Swader and Justin Swader, lighting design by Brian Aldous, costume design by Claudia Brown, sound design and composition by Mike Cassidy.)

You have three more performances to experience the work of these New York based artists before they move on to San Francisco. A Trojan Woman is a bleak reminder that there are no winners in war, and the biggest losers are the citizens of the nations at war, those killed and those left behind.