Greek Tragedy ‘Medea’ at Throughline; Nationals vs. Pirates + Military Night + Zambelli Fireworks (Thurs., 7/23/15)

Euripides, a controversial figure in his time, raised feminist issues with plays like “Medea” and “The Trojan Women.”

1) The year 431 BCE was a tough one for Euripides but a memorable one for posterity. At the annual theater competition during the Dionysia festival in Athens, with the public watching (and judges rating) new plays by the city’s leading playwrights, Euripides finished last. Yet one of his entries from that year has become the modern world’s most frequently produced ancient Greek tragedy. The play is Medea and it is a hair-raiser. Medea, a barbarian woman married to Jason of the Golden Fleece, goes mad when her husband leaves her for a proper Greek princess. In revenge she coldly plots a murder spree that includes killing the children she’s had with Jason. The play’s grisly outcome and its undertones of proto-feminist rage may have been what prompted a thumbs-down from Athenians of 2500 years ago. Judge for yourself, as Throughline Theatre Company presents Medea in Pittsburgh.  8 p.m. Ends July 25. At the Grey Box Theatre, 3595 Butler St., Lawrenceville. (MV)

2) Our battlin’ Buccos start a four-game series today against the Washington Nationals. The Nationals currently occupy first place in the National League East. It’s a Military Night and a Zambelli Fireworks Night. 7:05 p.m. PNC Park, 115 Federal St., North Shore.

3) Pine is a comedy about a difficult subject, our longing for a loved one who has passed away. Written by emerging New York playwright Eugenie Carabatsos, the play was the prizewinner at a South Carolina new-works festival in 2013 and has been making its way around the country; South Park Theatre gives Pine its Pittsburgh premiere. In this story the departed is a young man who died in an auto accident. The catch is that he isn’t really gone. He reappears at family gatherings, visible, it seems, only to the audience and to his younger brother, while trying increasingly to make his presence known. 7:30 p.m. Through August 8. Brownsville Rd. at Corrigan Dr., South Park Twp. (MV)

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