Antigone in New York

Edition Twenty-Five – Week Twenty-Five; Unit 2:

Written by: Jacob West

One Night Only: Homelessness, Hope, and an Artist’s Vision in Brooklyn

The Great Room at South Oxford Space is no traditional theater — but on July 13, it became a charged site for Antigone in New York, Janusz Głowacki’s piercing exploration of displacement, love, and survival. The sold-out, one-night-only staging felt less like a revival and more like a necessary, urgent act.

At its core was Netta Toledano, a multidisciplinary artist whose presence shaped every moment. Her direction was lean and unadorned, cutting straight to the play’s fierce truths. As Anita, Toledano delivered a performance that was emotionally raw and unpredictably human, never sentimental, never preachy.

The production embraced the limitations of the space as strengths. The entire room was used dynamically — the dock scene played out in the foyer, and scenes unfolded among the audience — intensifying the immersive, sometimes disorienting experience. Patrick Leonard’s Sasha and Marcel Parysek’s Flea provided compelling contrasts — one grounded, the other chaotic. Daniel Hefetz’s sound design and Anissa Le Scornet’s minimal set design reflected the harsh, stripped-down lives of the characters.

More than a performance, the production was a labor of love — a DIY ethic executed with precision and professionalism. All proceeds went to Broadway Community, supporting unhoused New Yorkers, aligning artistic intent with social impact.

If theater is meant to confront, Antigone in New York was an unflinching call to look harder at those society pushes to the edges.