Iphigenia (Nigro)
by Don Nigro

Nigro returns to his own special territory, Pendragon County, Ohio, the location of many of his plays, to revisit the myth of Iphigenia as its archetype emerges in Armitage, Ohio, in the second decade of the twentieth century.

Michael Ryan has appeared in Armitage, married the daughter of the bank president, and now, twenty years later, is one of the most respected men in town.

But he is a haunted man, locking himself in his study at night to read the Greek tragedies in the original, and distant from his lonely wife Carolyn and daughters, the beautiful but fragile Jenna and the smart, sardonic Lexie.

Then one night a young man appears with a secret from Michael's past that could destroy everything.

He wants a job at the bank, he wants to torture Michael, and he wants Michael's daughter Jenna.

The ancient mythology of guilt, betrayal, human sacrifice, and ambiguous redemption begins to manifest itself as Jenna gives herself to the stranger to try and please her father, then has a breakdown on her wedding night that involves a long knife, a walk on the roof, and the village idiot.

This is a very funny, dark tale about the possibility of recognizing and then subverting the mythology one finds one's self trapped in.

While this full length play is complete and self-contained, it is also the first of a group of plays, The Greek Trilogy , that will continue the story with Clytemnestra and Electra .