Antigone In Texas

Sophocles classic Greek tragedy is retold in the time of the Texas War against Mexico. Antigone, one of two remaining sisters of the incestuous marriage of their father and his mother, decides to bury her beaten and disgraced brother, the general and emperor of Mexico, against the orders of her uncle, General Creon.

The family of Longoria is cursed because of the father’s unknowing incest with his mother.  For the sake of peace the father divides his kingdom in two giving each brother half – one is given Mexico and the other Texas.  Two remaining sisters from the incestuous marriage, Antigone and Ismene go to Texas with their brother Pasqual.

The brother who rules Mexico, General Erasmo, makes war on Texas whose citizens want only freedom and peace.  He also makes war on his own sisters and brother, Pasqual, now a colonel in General Creon’s Texas army. In the final battle at the Rio Grande, the brothers meet and kill each other but Texas wins both the battle and the war.

Following the bitter fighting, General Creon declares martial law and decrees that only those who fought for Texas are to be buried with all honors.  Any who fought for Mexico are to be left on the battlefield to rot and be eaten by the buzzards and coyotes.

Now that both brothers are dead, Antigone feels duty bound to give her beaten and dishonored brother, Erasmo, the proper funeral rights because she once loved him and he is still her brother.  Sister Ismene refuses to help and so Antigone alone does what she feels is right.  But Antigone is captured performing the burial rights and faces death for her actions.