An arguably unjust war, largely driven by imperialism. Scores of lives, often belonging to civilians, lost. Sound familiar? Scena Theatre hopes the obvious parallels between today’s post-9/11 world and its production of Robert Auletta’s adaptation of Aeschylus’ The Persians will strike a chord with its audience.

Aeschylus’s original, the oldest surviving play in history, is a rather straightforward piece. Examining the Battle of Salamis, which took place in 480 B.C. between the Greeks and the Persians, it shows the devastation of war largely through the eyes of those defeated, from the mourning of a troubled queen (mother of Persian warlord Xerxes) to the condemnations of Darius, ghost of Xerxes’ father, who believes Persia’s loss to be driven by gods angry with his son’s rashness. It closes with Xerxes’ final realization that his own arrogance has been the cause of his country’s downfall.

Auletta’s adaptation, staged for only the second time in the U.S. at the GALA Theatre in Columbia Heights, modernizes the tale’s content, setting and language. The result adds many more layers to the play’s overall themes, and also looks deeper into the conflicts and motivations of its main characters.