In 'Antigone: In the Language of Kings,' a 2,500-year-old tale set in Tenochtitln is as timely as ever

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Set us as preferred Ancient Greek stories have captured people’s attention all summer.Director Christopher Nolan’s expansive retelling of “The Odyssey” has racked up more than $1.6 billion at the box office and the resurrected courtroom comedy “Coyote vs.Acme” portrays Wile E.

Coyote as a modern-day Sisyphus.As summer turns to fall, the Getty and the Latino Theater Company — a nonprofit organization dedicated to portraying the Latino experience onstage — are riding that wave with their reinterpretation of Sophocles’ “Antigone” at the Getty Villa’s Outdoor Theater through Oct.

3.Instead of placing the drama in a Hellenic setting, “Antigone: In the Language of Kings” moves the action to pre-conquest Mexico, specifically the Mexica capital of Tenochtitlan.Playwright Evelina Fernández hoped that situating “Antigone,” which lyrically investigates the themes of tyranny, hubris and respect for basic human dignity, in Tenochtitlan would help audiences see the Mexica (also known as the Aztecs) through a new lens.The Getty Villa production of Evelina Fernández’s ‘Antigone: In the Language of Kings,” co-produced by Latino Theater Company, resets Sophocles tragedy to pre-conquest Tenochtitlan, Mexico.“People always talk about the violence of the Aztecs,” Fernández told The Times.

“But there was also a heartfelt tranquility that belonged to the culture.The Mexica’s words of how you should live upon the earth are really beautiful and relevant to today.”She noticed that oftentimes when Mexica are portrayed on television and film, emphasis is put on human sacrifice rituals and the “pulling out of a beating heart,” but after much research she found a poetic heartbeat pulsing through the misrepresented society.

As in the Greek story, the play follows Antíkona (Antigone) as she faces of...