ZOE KIRIAZIS
Special to the Leader
The Performing Arts Company opened its first production of the season with a favorite Greek myth.
Playwright Sarah Ruhl wrote a modern adaptation of the myth about Orpheus through the perspective of his wife, Eurydice, which is also the title of the play.
Directed by senior acting major Robyn Baun, the show captured why it is so important to remember our favorite yet dark memories. Baun found the text of the script abstract but contemporary to Fredonia’s audience. The story follows lovers of Orpheus, portrayed by senior acting major Daniel Rivera, and Eurydice, played by junior acting major Angela Wheeler.
The two become married, but after unfortunate events, Eurydice dies on her wedding night. Being sent to the underworld, Eurydice is forced to make the decision of staying with her father, portrayed by senior acting major Angelo Heimowitz, among the dead or to go back with Orpheus. Wheeler’s interpretation of this notable young woman revolves around the strong desire to remember the memories of her father and being held back as a young adult.
With less than four weeks to put a full scale production on, instinct as an ensemble and production team came naturally.
“With the short rehearsal process, we really couldn’t overthink anything. We constantly went with our gut,” Baun said. Being a joint collaboration, each cast member had to feed off of the energy of one another in order to create this piece of theatre with not only actors and director, but designers and stage management teams, as well.
“Eurydice” focuses on the power of extreme vulnerability, love, loss, and how we grieve as human beings, drawing on the playwright’s experiences. Ruhl’s father died of cancer in the early 1990s by suicide, which gives way to the premise of the entire show. The father and Eurydice become the heart of the story.
Heimowitz said that the role of the father draws inspiration from Ruhl’s father, who cannot be found in the original mythological story. The conversations Ruhl wishes she could have with her father come out clearly in Heimowitz and Wheeler’s performance through their dialogue and exchanges. Heimowitz draws from a natural and organic place as an actor, which helped him create the role of the father.
Through originality and adaptation of the Greek myth, Ruhl sticks to the traditional structure of Greek theatre with few characters and a chorus. The chorus in “Eurydice” is composed of three stones, played by senior musical theatre major Stevie Jackson, junior musical theater major Hayley Philyaw and senior acting major Casterline Villar. These three actresses are seen in the audience’s first encounter with the underworld. Through unison, partnership and focus, the three stones create the atmosphere of the underworld. According to Baun, the chorus of stones don’t feel pain, but they don’t feel joy either. The stones are the divide in one of the major themes of the show, the human ability to remember and the relationship between the living and the dead.
Rivera’s raw portrayal of Orpheus demonstrates the natural emotions of losing someone so close. Throughout the story, Orpheus sends letters to Eurydice hoping that he can connect his physical self in the present world to the underworld. He is trying to live while experiencing the grief of losing his wife. Orpheus is attempting to connect the living and dead.
Adding to the story, the nasty interesting man and child, portrayed by senior theatre arts major Henry Rosenberg, brought a cynical, mysterious and continuous depth to the dark tragedy. As the nasty interesting man, Rosenberg seduces Eurydice to show that her and Orpheus don’t connect in a way that they could. The child, who is revealed to be the lord of the underworld, starts as a young boy but morphs into a powerful man. These two characters are similar in their want to seduce Eurydice, but differ in acts of moving the story along.
The Performing Arts Company’s next production will be “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” by Bert V. Royal, which opens Nov. 11 and will continue to Nov. 13.