Lumen Repertory Theatre will present the world premiere of “Antigone: Unmasked,” a new adaptation of Sophocles’ classic tragedy written and directed by Brian Niece and developed by the Lumen Rep Team, as the third production of its 2026 season, “Challenging.”
Performances run Oct. 9-24 at Betsy Lovett Hall, Church of the Good Shepherd, with tickets on sale now.
Sophocles’ tragedy of “Antigone,” who defies the law of the state to bury her brother, has stood for 25 centuries as a reckoning with the cost of conscience under power. Lumen Rep’s original adaptation transplants that reckoning into an unnamed country close enough to recognize; a place recovering from civil war, governed by a leader who has mistaken order for justice, and watched throughout by a chorus of citizens who never quite look away. The production stages the story across three distinct playing spaces: an elevated stage of official power, a threshold ramp of negotiation and witness, and a circle of truth and human consequence, inviting the audience to sit inside the story as citizens of the country.
Lumen Rep’s production features Zonnetta Marie as Chorus, Maggie Cox as Antigone, Kate McManus as Ismene, Noah Bennett as Haemon, and Eugene Lindsey as Creon, alongside the five member Lumen Rep NEXTGEN Apprentice Company in ensemble roles as the masked citizens, journalists, aides and guards who populate the world of the play.
“‘Antigone’ has never really left us,” said Niece, playwright and producing artistic director of Lumen Repertory Theatre. “Every generation gets its own version of Creon, someone who decides, gradually and almost without noticing, that the machinery of order matters more than the people inside it. This adaptation asks an old question in a new voice: what do we owe to the truth, and what does it cost to say it out loud. For a season built around the theme ‘Challenging,’ there is no more fitting piece.”
“Antigone: Unmasked” also marks a milestone for Lumen Rep’s NEXTGEN Initiative, with the launch of its inaugural Apprentice Company. The five apprentices cast in this production have trained in the company’s core artistic vocabulary, including the Suzuki Method and Viewpoints, and take the stage in significant ensemble roles alongside Lumen Rep’s professional company.
“Antigone: Unmasked” is also Lumen Rep’s fifth original production in four years, following “ShakesBeer,” “No Exit” (original adaptation), “Theatre in the Park” and “Harlan & Bronna Jump Out the Window.” That body of original work has taken on a life beyond Jacksonville, with productions and inquiries from companies as far away as Los Angeles and Miami, and continued interest from regional theatres beyond Florida.
As with all productions in Lumen Rep’s 2026 season, audiences are invited to continue the experience after each performance at Afterglow, the company’s informal post-show gathering space for conversation and connection. Concessions remain open and patrons can mingle and converse with cast and creative crew.
Performance Schedule
All performances are at Betsy Lovett Hall, Church of the Good Shepherd, 1100 Stockton St, Jacksonville.
Tickets & Access
General admission: $45
NEXTGEN Tickets: Free for high school and college students when reserved in advance by becoming a NEXTGEN member at lumenrep.org
Season subscribers receive priority seating access.
As Northeast Florida’s only Actors’ Equity affiliated professional nonprofit theatre company, Lumen Rep pays its artists, not volunteers them; caps rehearsal hours; and guarantees breaks and days off under national Equity standards, directing 80% of every ticket sold to the professionals making the work. That same discipline shapes the aesthetic: intentional sets and a spare visual language keep the focus on the actor, the director and the story.
“Antigone: Unmasked” embodies both halves of that mission, placing emerging apprentices shoulder to shoulder with seasoned, paid professionals inside a story about what a culture owes to its truth tellers.
