Performing Arts presents: Eurydice
Meet Eurydice (pronounced: Ear-reh-da-see): daughter of the Greek god Apollo and wife of Orpheus, and you could say she is in-between a rock and a hard place.
Playwright Sarah Ruhl, who created the show in 2003 shortly following her father’s passing, reimagined the classic myth of Orpheus through the eyes of its heroine, Eurydice.
Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice is cast into the underworld where she reunites with her father.
A bitter-sweet encounter made all the more difficult when an in-love and grieving Orpheus travels great lengths to the underworld to retrieve his wife.
The play focuses on the decision Eurydice must make: stay in the underworld with her beloved father, or travel back to the world of the living with her husband.
With contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists and breathtaking visual effects, the play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.
The play’s director and Assistant Professor of the Performing Arts, Gabriel Vanover, said the play pulls what we love about 2,000-year-old Greek mythology and modern stories together.
For example, the character’s names have remained true to the original story, “but Eurydice travels to the underworld in an elevator.”
The show’s cast is small, comprising of just seven parts, but for Vanover—who has just begun his first semester at Lees-McRae—it is the perfect opportunity to showcase a female playwright.
“Not enough minority and female playwrights are produced,” he said. “But I want (the students) to have experience producing those plays.”
The show will make its debut on Thursday, November 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hayes Auditorium.
Eurydice will also show on Friday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 20 at 2 p.m.
Tickets can only be purchased at the door starting one hour before the show. All seats are general admission. Adults are $12, students and children $5.
Meet the cast:
Eurydice: Sammy Campbell
Orpheus: John Michael Slone
Father: Wyatt Neff
Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld: Cole Kennedy
Big Stone: Ali Spencer
Little Stone: Alice Gomez
Loud Stone: Kelsey Martin
