Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 17, 2010

Contact:
Richard Scott
The Grand Theatre
Phone: 801-957-3263
Fax: 801-957-3113
richard.scott@slcc.edu
www.the-grand.org

"Eurydice"
a girl. a boy. a backward glance...the rest is history.
By Sarah Ruhl

Salt Lake City, UT - Eurydice will be making its Utah debut this March at The Grand Theatre. Sarah Ruhl, one of America’s finest and most produced young playwrights, focuses this unique reinvention of the Greek myth, Orpheus and Eurydice, using an innovative perspective. The myth's lush themes of love, death, memory, beauty, and the question of life after death perpetuate throughout this modern adaptation. However, Ruhl, who dedicates the play to the memory of her father, shifts the focus to the heroine, Eurydice, who ultimately struggles with the realities of love for her new husband along with the love she has for her father.

Eurydice dies on her wedding night and is taken to the underworld by way of a raining elevator. She is welcomed by a chorus of stones, who try to educate her on the rules of the underworld. Throughout her journey in the underworld, she is also met by her deceased father, who reminds Eurydice of her previous life with her family and husband, Orpheus. Using the beauty of his music, Orpheus descends to the underworld to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.

The end result is the same as the myth, but the audience gets to experience a new and different viewpoint. Ruhl's unusual script includes characters like the Nasty/Interesting Man and Lord of the Underworld, who arrives on a scooter, along with a contemporary Greek chorus of Loud Stone, Little Stone, and Big Stone.

This regional premiere will also interweave the music, which debuted with Eurydice's New York premiere, of composer, Toby Twining. Twining received a 2008 Barrymore Award for his atonal and ethereal compositions.

Cast includes: Stephanie Ogden, Scott Bahlmann, Steve Williams, Dan Larrinaga, Holly Brathwaite, Joe Crinch, and Ileana Kovaskalya

“…This story has some of the subliminal potency of music, the head-scratching surprise of a modernist poem and the cockeyed allure of a surrealist painting. It’s pretty funny, too.” - NY Times

Play dates: March 9-20, 2010
Times: Evening performances 7:30pm (no Sundays), Saturday matinees 2:00pm
Location: The Grand Theatre, 1575 South State Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Tickets: Prices range from $8.00 to $24.00 with discounts for groups, seniors, and students available.
Reservations: 801-957-3322 or online at www.the-grand.org
Wheelchair accessible

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1575 South State Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84115

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