Timing hobbles USC ‘Herakles’

“Children of Herakles,” a much-awaited production by theater and opera director Peter Sellars that was tentatively scheduled for October at USC, has been postponed. The play about refugees, by Greek tragedian Euripides, was to have been presented amid a university-wide examination of displaced people around the globe.

“We’ve been working for about nine months to bring the necessary pieces together because we think the topic is extremely important,” Madeline Puzo, USC’s dean of theater and the main instigator of the project, said Monday. “Nearly all the schools got involved, from the School of Engineering to the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences to the School of Social Work.”

Satellite events were to have included a film festival sponsored by the film school and a panel sponsored by the School of Communications.

“Everything was moving along well until one of the lead actors hit a deep family crisis and became unavailable,” Puzo said. “We’re hoping to do it in February, and we’re at the drawing board now.”

The potential new date, chosen for the availability of the globe-trotting Sellars, would require a new budget and re-casting. Puzo said that she and the university remain committed to the piece.