Eurydice opens Oct. 23 in Black Box Theater

The classic Orpheus myth gets a poignant 21^st-century redo in Sarah Ruhl's critically acclaimed play, Eurydice, which will open Friday, Oct. 23, at Skidmore for seven performances in Bernhard Theater's Black Box. 

An off-Broadway hit in 2007, Eurydice has been widely praised for its bold and compassionate takes on love and death, its witty and poetic language, and a quirky set featuring "a raining elevator, a water pump, some rusty exposed pipes, an abstracted River of Forgetfulness, an old-fashioned glow-in-the-dark globe," according to Ruhl's stage directions.

Directed by Carolyn Anderson, Kenan Professor of Liberal Arts in the Skidmore Theater Department, the College's production of Eurydice will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights Oct. 23 and 24, 29, 30, and 31, and at 2 p.m. Sundays Oct. 25 and Nov. 1.  Tickets are $12 for general admission, $8 for senior citizens and members of the Skidmore community. Seating is limited; reservations are strongly suggested. Call 518-580-5439 for information and reservations.

The Skidmore cast of Eurydice will include Marie Roussel '10 as Eurydice, Alex Frost '10 as Orpheus, Chris Jacobsen '10 as her father, Jesse Wood '10 as the satanic Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld. The Greek chorus of  "Stones"—bizarre characters who urge Eurydice to passively accept death—will be played by Molly Bernard '10, Jeremy Ohringer '13, Alex Kraft '12, and Xavier Richards '12.

Ever since the Latin poet Ovid told the tale 2,000 years ago in Metamorphoses, the myth has been all about Orpheus, the gifted musician whose beloved Eurydice dies suddenly and is swept into the underworld. He follows her there, singing so beautifully that he is allowed to lead her out of Hades, only to lose her again at the last moment, when he can't resist glancing back at her. The classical myth has inspired numerous retellings, including operas by Haydn and Glass, poetry from Dante to Auden, and films such as Black Orpheus and Jean Cocteau's Orphee.  

Ruhl's innovative retelling focuses on Eurydice, whose entry into the underworld shears her away from her lover but tenderly reunites her with her deceased father. When Orpheus descends to bring her back to life, she is torn between husband and father, between the pain of living and the sweetness of forgetting. As New York Times critic Charles Isherwood said, "Eurydice evokes the discombobulating experience of grief and loss, the desperate need to move on and the overwhelming desire never to let go — to turn and look back just one more time." Skidmore director Anderson chose the play for its courage in treating profound topics "in a funny, sharp, and refreshing way that honors the traditions of Greek theater and gives us new insights into being human."

A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her 2006 play The Clean House, Ruhl was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 2006.  She has won wide recognition for many of the 10 plays she has written since 2001, including Passion Play, a Cycle (2003 and 2004) and Dead Man's Cell Phone (2008). Her work has been lauded for its "visual allure, playfulness and emotional clarity" (New York Times) and American Theatre found in her plays "a steely lyricism; a pronounced whimsy; a deceptive spareness, masking an almost metaphysical intensity; and a quirky, compassionate humor that often coexists with deep sadness."

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