A Hair Transplant and a Homecoming in Athens

When Tony Award-winning director Sam Pinkleton touched down in Athens last October, he had two things on his mind: a hair transplant and a reconnection with his Greek roots. With just 24 hours to spare before the procedure, he made the most of it. “I did all the touristy things,” he says—the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora. A local friend suggested a rooftop bar. Pinkleton balked at the idea, calling it tacky. His friend pushed back: “No, you don't understand. We're a city of sitting on the roof.” So they went to the top of The Dolli hotel, where the Parthenon loomed in the distance. “Completely classic, totally on the nose,” he laughs.

The transplant itself, at Seneca Medical Group, was surprisingly luxurious. Nine hours in and out. He returned to Ergon House, a gastronomic market with rooms upstairs, and spent recovery eating spanakopita while spraying saline on his bandaged head, listening to church bells every half hour. “It was hilarious,” he says. After two hours of hiding, he decided: screw it. He went out for a whole fish.

On his last day, he walked a block from the hotel to the Metropolitan Cathedral, but stumbled upon a tiny chapel instead—the Church of St. Eleutherius. Inside, he lit a candle and made the sign of the cross for the first time since he was 14. “There was a beauty in this ritual,” he says. Months later, his 93-year-old grandmother showed him photos from her 1960s trip to Greece. In one, his grandfather stood in front of the same chapel. “He had a full head of hair,” Pinkleton says. “I swear it's true.”