Eurydice

This play is for my father

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Eurydice received its first workshop production in January 2001, in Providence, RI, at Brown University’s New Play Festival (Mac Wellman, producer).

 

Eurydice received a workshop production at The Children’s Theatre Company (Peter C. Brosius, Artistic Director; Teresa Eyring, Managing Director) in Minneapolis in September 2001. It was directed by Darron L. West and Rebecca Brown.

Eurydice received its world premiere at Madison Repertory Theatre (Richard Corley, Artistic Director; Tony Forman, Managing Director) in September 2003.The production was directed by Richard Corley; the set design was by Narelle Sissons, the lighting design was by Rand Ryan, the costume design was by Murell Horton, the sound design was by Darron L. West and movement was by Karen Hoyer; the stage manager was Lynn “Cubby” Terry, Jr. The cast was as follows:

EURYDICE		Laura Heisler
HER FATHER		John Lenertz
ORPHEUS		David Andrew McMahon
A NASTY INTERESTING MAN/ THE LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD		Scot Morton
GRANDMOTHER/OLD WOMAN		Diane Dorsey
A CHORUS OF STONES:
BIG STONE		Jody Reiss
LITTLE STONE		Polly Noonan
LOUD STONE		Karlie Nurse

Eurydice was produced at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (Tony Taccone, Artistic Director; Susan Medak, Managing Director) on October 15, 2004. The production was directed by Les Waters; the set design was by Scott Bradley, the lighting design was by Russell H. Champa, the costume design was by Meg Neville, the sound design was by Bray Poor; the stage manager was Michael Suenkel. The cast was as follows:

EURYDICE		Maria Dizzia
HER FATHER		Charles Shaw Robinson
ORPHEUS		Daniel Talbott
A NASTY INTERESTING MAN/ THE LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD		Mark Zeisler
A CHORUS OF STONES:
BIG STONE		Ramiz Monsef
LITTLE STONE		T. Edward Webster
LOUD STONE		Aimée Guillot

CHARACTERS

EURYDICE

HER FATHER

ORPHEUS

A NASTY INTERESTING MAN/ THE LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD

A CHORUS OF STONES:

BIG STONE

LITTLE STONE

LOUD STONE

SET

 

The set contains a raining elevator,
a water pump,
some rusty exposed pipes,
an abstracted River of Forgetfulness,
an old-fashioned glow-in-the-dark globe.

NOTES

Eurydice and Orpheus should be played as though they are a little too young and a little too in love. They should resist the temptation to be “classical.”

The underworld should resemble the world of Alice in Wonderland more than it resembles Hades.

The Stones might be played as though they are nasty children at a birthday party.

When people compose letters in this play they needn’t actually scribble them—they can speak directly to the audience.

The set should allow for fluid transitions from moment to moment—from underworld to overworld and back again.

The play should be performed without an intermission.