up next
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up next 〰️
A staged reading
in defense of medea
of
By Lane St. Sebastian
Directed by Linoï Chemla
Friday, November 14th @ 7pm
The Vino Theater
274 Morgan Avenue
Brooklyn, NY
At the crossroads of unimaginable success and inconceivable calamity, Andres has nearly achieved his one dream in life: build a career from the bones of dead men— or, in other words, to become a tenure-track professor in Classics. However, as Andres dreams become reality, his husband, Jason, ignite a trajectory that pushes the couple far beyond their understandings of obligation, betrayal, and love.
Inspired by Euripides’s Medea, and a 2025 ScreenCraft Stage Play Competition, In Defense of Medea reimagines the mythic figure of Medea through a contemporary lens. In a collage of memory, this play examines gender identity, queer relationships, minority family dynamics, and the weight of generational violence. It asks the questions: What does it mean to be and feel “foreign” in today’s time? Who is allowed to “belong”? How are marginalized people driven to defiance, resistance, and, perhaps, violence?
Cast & Crew
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Cast & Crew 〰️
OPEN CASTING CALL
2025-2026 SEason
A SEASON OF ENTROPY
The universal law of entropy is that the world will dissolve into uncertainty, disorder, and chaos. Order is often imposed upon us, either through Executive Action or Social Paradigm. Entropy liberates us. Our inaugural season endeavors to establish queer and trans identity in a world that seeks to erase us.
in defense of medea
a new play by Lane St. Sebastian
Staged Reading Series
FALL 2025
A retelling of Euripides's tragedy, In Defense of Medea tracks the memories and current life of Andres, a trans Latino academic before his utmost diversion from societal sutures. An interrogation into the violent and tragic intersections of gender, race, and class, this play presents a temporally and spatially disjointed detailing of one individual's descent into rage, grief, and misapplied justice.
New Play Development Residency
Summer 2026
New Voices Series
Theatre of the Bacchant is excited to announce our Play Development Residency for the Summer of 2026, a program designed to support and nurture the voices of playwrights of color who are inspired by the ancient and classical canon. Through this residency, we aim to cultivate new works that resonate with the timeless themes of writers like Sophocles, Euripides, and others, while bringing fresh perspectives and voices to the stage. The program lasts approximately 10 weeks and culminates in a staged reading.
We encourage all playwrights with a passion for classical works to submit an application. We are particularly interested in submissions that break the boundaries of theatre and classics, creating exciting possibilities in how we consider ancient stories in our modern context. The selected playwright will work alongside Lane St. Sebastian, Theatre Bacchant’s Literary Manager, exploring the intersection of myth, history, and modern narrative to create something exciting, bold, and impactful.
