Heartbreak Mythology

There’s a reason that the Greeks and their tragedies, gravid with the weight of human experience, persist as artistic fodder. “Give me back my blood from your veins,” a jilted Medea cries in Heinen Muller’s Medeamaterial, a brutal retelling of the Greek myth in which Jason shrugs away the mother of his children for a new lady love. In the original myth (and Euripides’ play), there are a few other plot twists, but that’s the pith of it — and it’s why the tale still resonates with contemporary audiences. To anyone who’s been there, the hysterical grapple of spurned love will be familiar. In Muller’s retelling, the scorned party delivers a classically melodramatic, blood-logged diatribe, the words hitting like a hot bullet to the gut. Director Marianna Vogt — who also stars — presents Medeamaterial, in collaboration with the Urban Culture Project, at La Esquina (1000 West 25th Street). Performances are tonight through Saturday at 7, 8 and 9. For information, contact the Urban Culture Project at 816-221-5115.

Thu., Sept. 6, 7, 8 & 9 p.m.