Nia reimagines the iconic Greek story of Iphigenia’s sacrifice in a rural coastal town governed by fundamental religious rules and a blue collar military tradition.

When apocalyptic squalls ground the US Air Guard fleet in Aulis, North Carolina, an overwhelmed Colonel Agamemnon makes an unthinkable choice for the return of calm skies. As his wife, an influential congresswoman, passionately fights for her daughter’s choice in the matter, his daughter Nia shocks the town by volunteering for the Pentecostal snake-handling ceremony herself.

Using the old bones of the Euripides story, Nia delves into a dark, coastal world of military fervor, dogwood flowers, porch gossip, and sweet tea. Featuring Achilles as a confused high school drop-out, Menelaos as a grief-stricken, desperate veteran, and a chorus of small-town church women on the neighborhood porch, Nia grounds an epic Greek story close to home, all with an ancient, mythic violence lurking beneath the surface.

Was there indeed a miracle at Aulis, or just hysteria and violence? What story will we choose to believe?