Spike Lee’s Chiraq adapts ancient Greek play to address gang violence
By Morning Shift
Spike Lee’s Chiraq adapts ancient Greek play to address gang violence
By Morning Shift
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The plot of Spike Lee’s film Chiraq — Chicago women withholding sex from men until the gang and gun violence stops — comes from a Greek play from 411 BCE. Lee adapts the Greek comedy Lysistrata to Chicago’s South Side. It’s certainly not the first adaptation of the play by Aristophanes, but what is it about the story that made it a go-to production over the centuries? Dr. Coya Paz, professor at The Theatre School at DePaul University, gives us the deep dive on the source material.