Linda López McAlister

Every day, Albuquerque receives new arrivals relocating to be near their kids and grandkids. Director Shepard Sobel and his wife, actress Joanne Camp, came for that very reason.

What they left behind in New York City was The Pearl Theatre Company, which Variety magazine called “The premier Off-Broadway classical rep group.”

Shepard Sobel directs Medea

The couple founded The Pearl in 1984 and served as artistic directors for 25 years. It didn’t take long for the Albuquerque theatre community to welcome these newcomers. Camp has already starred in a play at the Cell Theatre, and now Sobel is making his Albuquerque directorial debut with Euripides’ 2,500-year-old play Medea.

Sobel told Prime Time before one of his rehearsals that he was pleasantly surprised and enthusiastic with Albuquerque’s active theatre scene, but he was also struck by how few shows on the local theatre calendar come from previous centuries.

For him, the classic plays are an irresistible magnet whose wisdom gathers force over the centuries. But because modern audiences don’t get to see classic Greek tragedies every day, he also feels a great responsibility to present them in a manner that will get to their very essence.

In Medea, rather than spectacle and declamatory speeches, Sobel aims for a deeply moving production that will speak honestly and directly to a modern audience. Medea opens at the Vortex Theatre Feb. 12 and runs through March 7.

Some other shows of note coming up in February include Landmark Musicals’ The Fantasticks; The Ballad of Sucio’s Frog at the National Hispanic Cultural Center; Hillary: A Modern Greek Tragedy with a (somewhat) Happy Ending at the Aux Dog Theatre; ZooZoo and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change at Popejoy; Dial M for Murder followed by Plaza Suite at Albuquerque Little Theatre Also, Dead Man’s Cell Phone at UNM; Prelude to a Kiss at the Adobe Theatre; The Mother Road Theatre Company’s 2010 “Prebut” themed “Love and Madness”; and A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur at the Cell Theatre.

Go to the Albuquerque Theatre Guild’s Web site – abqtheatre.org –  for details and more information about live stage performances in Albuquerque.