Outcast at the Gate is a drama about refugees: a blind old man, supported by his daughter, seeks food and shelter. It is also a drama of redemption: the old man is “stained to the core of his existence.” At the same time, he is somehow innocent: he is Oedipus, former king of Thebes, who has unwittingly killed his father and married his mother. The end will find him a prophet, leading his daughters and the king of his new homeland to a miraculous appointment with the waiting gods.