‘Antigone: In the Language of Kings’ Brings a Mexica Reimagining to the Getty Villa

There may be no shortage of ways to revisit Antigone, but chances are audiences have never encountered Sophocles quite like this. 

For its 20th annual Outdoor Classical Theater production, the Getty Villa joins Latino Theater Company for Antigone: In the Language of Kings, a striking reimagining that moves the tragedy from ancient Thebes to pre-conquest Tenochtitlan. Adapted by Evelina Fernández and directed by Latino Theater Company artistic director José Luis Valenzuela, the production runs through Saturday, October 3rd in the Villa’s Outdoor Theater.

Sophocles’ enduring conflict remains at the center. Antigone defies the decree of a ruler in order to honor a dead brother, placing familial and spiritual obligations against the authority of the state. Here, however, that struggle unfolds within the world of the Mexica people, incorporating Aztec mythology alongside pre-Hispanic music and poetry. English, Spanish and Nahuatl intermingle throughout the approximately 90-minute, intermission-free production, with English and Spanish supertitles provided at every performance.

The setting amounts to considerably more than a change of scenery. By locating Antigone within another ancient civilization — with its own language, beliefs, rituals and understanding of the relationship between earthly and spiritual authority — Fernández and Valenzuela have an opportunity to illuminate a familiar story from an entirely different cultural vantage point. The Getty Villa itself adds another layer, with its outdoor theater modeled after ancient prototypes providing an especially fitting home for a work that reaches across civilizations while asking why certain moral conflicts survive them.

The scale of the production extends to a creative team that includes set designer François-Pierre Couture, costume designer Catarina Copelli, lighting designer Xinyuan Li, sound designer John Zalewski, Mesoamerican instruments director Christopher García, projection designer Yee Eun Nam, and movement and choreography by Urbanie Lucero.

For Fernández, a founding member and associate artistic director of Latino Theater Company, adapting Antigone also offers an opportunity to bring audiences closer to a pre-conquest culture whose artistic and literary traditions rarely receive this kind of theatrical canvas. LAexcites spoke with Fernández about the thinking behind this unusual adaptation and how one of Western theater’s oldest surviving tragedies found a new home in ancient Mesoamerica.

You’ve said you want audiences to encounter the beauty and wisdom of Mexica culture, literature, and ritual. What do you most hope they come away understanding — or perhaps seeing differently — about that world?

Fernández: While we don’t see much of Aztec culture on the stage, on television, or in film, when we do, the violence, war and human sacrifice are what get amplified. In Antigone: In the Language of Kings, I chose to highlight the tenderness of the language, expressions, and the beauty of the “flor y canto,” or flower and song, and, more importantly, the words of the elders, or the “huehuetlatolli.” The words were handed down from the wise ones, who taught us how to live upon the earth. They are beautiful words that I tried to incorporate in the play.

The production moves among English, Spanish and Nahuatl. What does using all three languages allow you to express that a single-language version could not?

Fernández: I don’t think it is appropriate to perform a play in only one language in Los Angeles. We are a metropolis full of people from every point of the planet. Telling the story of Antigone in three languages makes the play accessible to English and Spanish speakers and gives us the opportunity to hear the Nahuatl words in their original language, which is beautiful. Using only one language is limiting and excludes so many people.

The Getty Villa’s open-air theater is modeled on ancient prototypes, with the Pacific nearby. What, if anything, does that setting add to the play’s sense of history, ritual or gravity — and to the audience’s experience of it?

Fernández: This land is indigenous, full of ritual, bones and the spirits of my ancestors. They looked upon the beauty of the Pacific and felt the ocean breeze, just as we do today. I feel that — I feel them — when we perform our ritual on the Getty Villa stage. We are here, we belong here, we have always been here. I believe the audience feels that too.

Cover image caption: Kevin Ortiz, Esperanza América, and Pollo in Antigone: In the Language of Kings at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, CA. © 2026 J. Paul Getty Trust.

Antigone: In the Language of Kings plays Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. at the Getty Villa’s Outdoor Theater through October 3rd. The production runs approximately 90 minutes without intermission and is not recommended for audiences under age 13. An ASL-interpreted performance takes place September 24th, with an audio-described performance on October 2nd. English and Spanish supertitles are available at all performances. For tickets, dining options, accessibility information and additional details, visit Getty.edu.