Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, a re-imagining of the classic Greek myth, is the story of a woman in love with Orpheus, a famous musician. While Eurydice finds herself living in the words and thoughts of books, Orpheus seems to think only of music. Tricked on her wedding day, Eurydice dies, and finds herself adrift in the Underworld. Exploring the ideas of love and loss, Eurydice takes us through a journey of reunited families and buried memories. Eurydice must decide—will Orpheus’ love be enough to pull her into the land of the living, or will her father’s unending love be a pull to keep her in the Underworld?
Embracing the company’s Comic Books and Superheroes theme for the second annual Blueprint Theatre season, Eurydice represents the girl who waits for her hero, unsure if that’s truly the role she wants to play. In the course of the play, she becomes her own troubled hero by deciding her own fate.
Visually, the production features the intriguing imagery of a world that juxtaposes the classic style of comic books with an underworld of the contemporary gothic graphic novel. Scenic designer Kara Poole has incorporated fog and pipes to create the feeling an underworld of water. Director Bree Bridger and Sound designer Gregory Salinas have created a musical score to affirm the themes of both the piece itself and the comic book mood.
“Stories of folk heroes and demigods are to the ancient world what comic books and super hero films are to the American mythos,” says Bridger. “They shape how we view bravery and heroism, and what values are important to our society. Eurydice subverts the story of the famous Orpheus and his trials to save his wife, and bringing it into the contemporary world moves those classical questions forward: What about the girl waiting at home for her hero? Does she have power over where her story goes? Does victory always come to those with passion and bravery? I want to bring in the comic hero images as a way of questioning what super hero lore tells us about what we think the world should be like, and how it doesn’t always mesh with the way the world works.”
Playwright Sarah Ruhl received a MacArthur Foundation ‘Genius Grant’ Fellowship, and her work has been awarded the distinction of Pulitzer Prize finalist and multiple Tony nominations. Already seen around the country, this production introduces Ruhl to the Brazos Valley.
Blueprint Theatre opens its 2012 Summer Season on June 20 with The Tempest, followed by Eurydice on June 21. The plays run on alternating days, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. through July 14. Performances are free and open to the public at the Fallout Theatre (Room 140 in the Blocker building on campus). Seating is limited.
