After seeing The Shakespeare Theatre Company 's production of '' The Oedipus Plays '' in September 2001 , officials from the Greek Embassy in Washington arranged for an invitation to the company to perform it as part of the 2003 Athens Festival . The show was a single-evening adaption by Michael Kahn of Sophocles ' three plays '' Oedipus Rex '' , '' Oedipus at Colonus '' and '' Antigone '' . He changed the setting from Greece to central Africa , and used an all-black cast headed by Avery Brooks . The performance was on 10 – 11 September 2003 in the semicircular 5,000-seat Odeon theater on the south slope of the Acropolis . As an historical footnote , the original production had just opened the week before the September 11 attacks . After a single performance cancellation that night , the show went on the next night ( 9/12 ) with a new meaning for cast and audience . The second Athens ' performance was two years to the day after the attack
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Shakespeare Theatre Company