Event

Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl

Recently named one of the best plays of the past 25 years by the New York Times, Eurydice is a modern re-imagining of the well-known Greek myth. In the original myth, Orpheus, a talented musician, falls in love with the beautiful Eurydice. On their wedding day, Eurydice is bitten on the ankle by a snake and dies. Orpheus pours his grief into his music and the resulting lament moves the stones, the trees and, most importantly, the gods. He is permitted to enter the underworld to retrieve his beloved Eurydice, but on one condition: he must trust that she is behind him; he cannot turn around to see her until they have both exited the gates of the underworld. However, Eurydice is only a shade and she makes no footsteps. As Orpheus reaches the gates, he is suddenly overwhelmed with doubt and turns around. Eurydice, with a simple farewell, is pulled back into the underworld for the rest of eternity.

Sarah Ruhl re-imagines this enduring story by centering the play on its heroine. Ruhls play follows Eurydice after she dies on her wedding day. In the Underworld, Eurydice reconnects with her deceased Father, but the strands of memory that bind them together pull her farther away from the husband she left behind. With string houses, raining elevators, and talking stones, Ruhl grapples with themes of love, loss, family, and saying goodbye. Eurydice powerfully captures the truth that memories even the most painful ones are what make us who we are; to forget ourselves is to forget how to be human.

The production stars Rachael Uyeno as Eurydice, Paul T. Mitri as her Father, Jeff Brackett as Orpheus, Dezmond Gilla as the Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld, Therese Olival as the Loud Stone, Garrett Hols as the Big Stone, and Kela Neil as the Little Stone. Set Design and Lighting Design is by Christina Sutrov. Costume design is by Annastasia Fiala-Watkins. The production is directed by Alex Munro.