playbill vip

Time: Timeless  Place: The Overworld and Underworld

SET DESIGN: ART WINTER     COSTUME DESIGN: LEE HITCHLE   

SOUND DESIGN: NORA BISHOP*     SOUND CONSULTANT: JOSH SMITH

LIGHTING DESIGN: MAYSON BALES*     LIGHTING CONSULTANT: ART WINTER

TECH DIRECTOR: TYLER SCHYVINCK     ASST. TECH DIRECTOR: ERIN STENSON* 

HAIR/MAKEUP DESIGN: JACLYN DAVIS     PROPS MISTRESS: KAYLI KIMERER*

PUBLICITY MANAGER: SARAH SPENCER

 ASST DIRECTORS: MOLLY BURK* & EMMA JOHNSON*    

STAGE MANAGER: SUMMER SPERKE*

Director's Notes

As my production staff and I selected our fall show, we knew we wanted to challenge students with something artistic and conceptual. Sarah Ruhl's poetic lyricism, dark wit, and surreal setting provided the perfect playground for our students to stretch their imaginations. I tasked my student designers with creating an 'Alice in Wonderland'-type Underworld with a simple concept: Organic vs. Mechanic. 

Our Underworld is filled with organic, decaying material as the characters become "one with the earth." This organic concept is contrasted with the mechanic, modern Overworld of industrial pipes, bolts, and metal. Two diverging vanishing points--the Underworld and the Overworld--intersect center stage, creating a jumbled mess. This concept of mechanic and organic appears again and again in the show. Eurydice is caught between two worlds: no longer in the Overworld, but not quite one with the Underworld. Along with her father, she becomes more decayed the longer she stays. The lighting design reflects the differences between the two worlds by changing in intensity, color, and feeling. 

Six weeks of hard work and late nights contributed to the completion of this production. 75% of the students who worked on this show were freshmen and sophomores, learning new technical areas or acting techniques. Although we started out small in our first two years as a department, I am proud of the success and growth we have achieved along the way. An immense thank you to all of the wonderful parents who supported us, and to my production staff for helping me (hopefully) do justice to this amazing play. Enjoy!

Production Credits 

This play was originally produced by Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, Wisconsin. August 29, 2003. Richard Corley, Artistic Director, Tony Forman, Managing Director. And subsequently produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2004. Tony Taccone, Artistic Director, Susan Medak, Managing Director.  And Yale Repertory Theatre. James Bundy, Artistic Director, Victoria Nolan, Managing Director.  Produced by Second Stage Theatre, New York, 2007.  Carole Rothman: Artistic Director

EURYDICE is produced by special arrangement with Bruce Ostler, BRET ADAMS, LTD., 448 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036.