OWU spring theatre production: an ancient myth with a modern twist

Katie Cantrell

Transcript Correspondent

kmcantre@owu.edu

An ancient Greek myth came alive with a modern theme at Ohio Wesleyan this past weekend.

OWU theatre department’s spring production of “Eurydice,” written by Sarah Ruhl, was performed in the Chappelear Drama Center Studio Theatre from Thursday through Sunday. It was the directorial debut for Bradford Sadler (’05), a part time instructor in the theatre & dance department.

Sadler had multiple reasons for choosing Eurydice.

“I think it’s a really beautiful show that deals with issues that I was interested in in terms of love versus loss,” he said. “I thought it provided a challenge for the actors as well as the technicians, but an appropriate level of challenge that we could rise to together.”

The play centers on the ancient Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. Sadler brought the play into a modern setting.  However, the overall core plot of the myth stayed true to the original tragic love story.

In the play, Eurydice died and went to the underworld where she encountered her father, the three stones and the lord of the underworld. Eurydice’s husband, Orpheus, in his grief writes some of the saddest songs and eventually uses those songs to gain both entrance and passage through the underworld in search of his wife.

While in the underworld, Orpheus makes a deal with the lord of the underworld: his wife can leave with him as long as he does not turn around and look to see if she is following.

The cast of “Eurydice” included: junior Miko Harper as Eurydice, sophomore Adam Lieser as Orpheus, sophomoreAaron Eicher as the father, sophomore, Maxwell Haupt as the nasty, interesting man and lord of the underworld, freshman Alex Dolph as Loud Stone, freshman Camy Dodd as Little Stone, and senior Maggie Welsh as Big Stone. The cast and crew have been preparing for months. Some work was done as far back as December of last year.

 Eurydice is not leading lady Harper’s first time on the mainstage. As a freshman she played Sally Bowles in OWU’s spring production of “Cabaret.”

“I actually understudied for Big Stone in high school, so I was familiar with the show and knew it was hard, but it’s so good and I was really excited to do it,” Harper said.

Every cast member had something they enjoyed about their experiences.

“I think because it is sort of a minimalist type of show in terms of the set and I guess it’s less flashy than a lot of shows, so it kind of forces you to really dig deep and there’s no distractions or cover ups and it’s a little more raw,” Harper said.“That’s been really challenging but it’s been really cool because I haven’t really been able to do that in a long time.”

 Eurydice was Doph’s first mainstage theatrical play at OWU. Prior to this show, she participated in Orchesislast semester.

 “Eurydice” provided junior Jarrod Ward his first opportunity to be a lighting designer for a major production. He had to meet with the director, the technical director and the set designers frequently throughout the production process to work out different lighting for the production.

“Some things were a little bit challenging like trying to work with projections and getting projections set up was a bit challenging. Along with a few tweaks here and there, it hasn’t been too challenging,” Ward said.

Dolph thoroughly enjoyed her experience.

“The people and the relationships we’ve made, I’ve grown closer to so many people and all my cast members. I’ve gotten to know our director pretty well and I’ve made so many friends with people I didn’t even talk to before,” Dolph said.