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Each fall, this series features a classical tragedy or comedy in the Getty Villa's dramatic Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman Theater, an outdoor venue modeled after ancient Greek and Roman theaters. 

The Persians
Directed by Anne Bogart
Created and Performed by SITI Company
Translation by Aaron Poochigian
New York-based SITI Company, one of America's leading theater ensembles, returns to the Getty Villa this fall to perform Persians, an emotional story of war, victory, and loss experienced by an imagined Persian court. In this sole surviving Greek tragedy about a historical event—the battle of Salamis in 480 B.C.—Aeschylus glorifies the Athenian victors but also humanizes the defeated Persians, emphasizing the universal impact of war on family and community.

Directed by the company's artistic director Anne Bogart, the play features a new translation by Aaron Poochigian and sound design by Tony Award-winner Darron L West. "In approaching Persians, we are attempting to chart nothing less than the birth of drama, the proverbial big bang of the theater, from procession and ritual celebration to acts of fictional embodiment of events and relationships," says Bogart.

Running time is approximately 90 minutes, no intermission. 

Read the conversation between theater director Anne Bogart and Ralph Flores as they discuss the creative process behind the staging of Persians.
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/persians-an-ancient-play-remade-for-the-21st-century/