Antigone in Ferguson

In a groundbreaking social justice project, aimed at bridging the growing divide between law enforcement and local communities, the Brooklyn-based social impact company Outside the Wire will premiere Antigone in Ferguson at The Center of Social Empowerment in Ferguson, Missouri on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. The project will present dramatic readings of Sophocles’ Antigone—an ancient Greek tragedy about what happens when personal conviction and state law clash, and violence ensues. The evening’s events are created for diverse audiences composed of concerned citizens, members of faith communities, city officials and law enforcement. The goal is to generate powerful dialogue after the readings within these communities to foster compassion, understanding and positive action. The two performances take place from 5:30 - 7:30p.m. and 8:30 - 10:30p.m. at the Center, 35 Wesley Ave., 63135 and are free to the public (limited seating) with donations accepted.

Actors include: Samira Wiley (Orange is the New Black), Reg E. Cathey (House of Cards), Gloria Reuben (ER), and Glenn Davis (24).

“Justice requires the right relationship,” said Pastor F. Willis Johnson of Wellspring Church. “It requires us to reach across those areas of difference to find authentic connection. It requires us to hear one another. That’s what this event is all about: letting the art of the past speak to us today so that we can connect with one another.”

Antigone in Ferguson, developed by Outside the Wire, is led by director/translator Bryan Doerries, with the partnership of the PopTech Institute and The Center for Social Empowerment at Wellspring Church. This production is co-presented with the Onassis Foundation USA. Locations across the US to present the project are in the process of being added.

“In order to heal what divides our neighborhoods, communities, cities, and nation,” said Bryan Doerries, “we must collectively acknowledge our shared humanity and approach each other with humility and compassion. By performing Sophocles’ Antigone for diverse audiences in Ferguson, our goal is to create a safe space for people to stand up, speak their personal truths, and feel respected and heard.”

The acclaimed cast, listed above, will perform dramatic reading of Sophocles’ Antigone, and the choral sections will be performed by the Phil Woodmore Singers, a gospel group including members of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Choir, Trinity Community Church Choir, Wellspring Church Praise Team, and Center for Creative Arts.

About the Play
Sophocles’ Antigone is an ancient Greek tragedy about a teenage girl who wishes to bury her brother, Polyneices, who recently died in a brutal civil war. Creon, the new, untested king, has ruled that Polyneices’ body must remain above the earth, and that anyone who breaks this law will be put to death. Antigone openly and intentionally defies his edict, covering her brother’s body with dirt and publicly declaring her allegiance to a higher law, one that transcends that of the state—the law of love. Creon is then forced, by his own political rhetoric, and by the fragile social order that he has barely begun to establish since the civil war, to make an example of his niece, by sentencing her to death. In the process of following through with his own decree, Creon loses everything—his son, his political office, and the social order he struggled so hard to defend. At its core, Antigone is a play about what happens when personal conviction and state law clash, raising the question: When everyone is right (or feels justified), how do we avert the violence that will inevitably take place?