Play ‘Eurydice’ selling out fast

Article carried over from Sept. 26 online edition of The Colonnade.

She’s a bookworm with no rhythm who, like many young girls, is in love. In Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice,” she tells her story of love, death and the struggle between the two. Junior theatre major Caroline Horlacher is playing the title character in the GCSU production of the classic Greek myth of “Orpheus.”

“I think Sarah Ruhl takes a unique perspective on the whole thing by giving Eurydice the power, when in Greek stories, the males are usually the ones with the power,” Horlacher said. “It is a unique way of writing and I really like it.”

The play is relatively new and is keeping with the theatre department’s theme for this season, which is “Women in the Spotlight: Plays by Women.” It is a play by a woman telling the story of a woman.

It tells the story of Eurydice who is in love with Orpheus. On their wedding night, Eurydice is lured by a character appropriately named “The Nasty, Interesting Man.” She ends up falling down stairs trying to escape his evil grasp and falls into the Underworld, lost to her new husband. It is a twist on the classic telling in a modern setting.

Shaun Manny is a senior theatre major and is playing Orpheus in the play.

“With the acting alone, people will be satisfied but when you add the lights, music and other technical aspects, it will blow people’s minds,” Manny said. “I think people will be pleasantly surprised.”

This play is surpassing its counterparts in the area of innovation. Dr. Douglas O’Grady of the music department has composed an original score especially for “Eurydice.”

“The script calls for certain musical cues, but there was never any original score to go with it so it was left up to the individual directors,” O’Grady said. “Dr. Pinney came to one of our Sound Sculpture concerts that we do every spring. It is all electronic music. She heard some of my music and thought it would be perfect for ‘Eurydice.’”

O’Grady recorded his composition completely electronically. He developed a computer program to make cueing up the music for each performance easier.

“I pre-recorded all of these ‘musical events’. The computer program allows me to trigger these events to happen when they are supposed to happen,” O’Grady said. “I am interacting with what the actors are doing because I am making these things happen on time based on whatever pace they want to run the scene.”

The basis for the score came from stage directions in the script that give description of what some of the sounds should sound like. The director, Dr. Amy Pinney, actually thought the stage directions were so important, she added a narrator character to read them.

Pinney, an assistant professor of theatre, directed the world premiere of “Coyote Point” last season. Her unique creativeness breathes new life into every play she touches.

Eurydice is the breakout role for Horlacher, but not her first time working with Pinney.

“It has been amazing working with Amy. I really like her directing style,” Horlacher said. “The cast has been great. And the crew has worked so hard. It is awesome and overwhelming. I am very grateful.”

Eurydice opens Wednesday Oct. 1, 2008 and runs until Sunday Oct. 5. Both Wednesday and Thursday night shows are sold out. Seating is limited, so it is recommended that tickets be purchased in advance in Porter Hall. Student tickets are $4. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 478-445-4226.

“Anyone interested in seeing the play should read a little about the story of Orpheus and Eurydice to have a better understanding,” Manny said. “It is a good story. I think this play is a must see.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 3 2008. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry