Eurydice - University Players

• Theater

By Sarah Ruhl. In English. Directed by Henny Fleischmann and Charlie Bierend.

A tender-hearted comedy - weird and wonderful. (NY Times)

The wedding day of the too-young and too-in-love Eurydice and Orpheus ends unexpectedly: Unable to resist the promise of a letter written by her deceased father, Eurydice finds herself at a stranger’s apartment. On her escape, she trips, falls and dies. In the underworld, where all words are lost but stones can speak, Eurydice is left with no memories of her husband and reunites with her father. When Orpheus’s beautiful music makes even the stones weep, the former couple are given the chance to return to the world of the living – and Eurydice is left with a choice to make. A tale of love, loss, and letters.

EURYDICE reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice not through Orpheus’s infamous pilgrimage to retrieve his bride but through the eyes of its heroine. The production departs from the myth aplenty to create an associative visual poem full of light-hearted humor and emotional intensity. With contemporary characters, surprising plot twists, and inappropriately seductive side characters, this play is a fresh look at a timeless love story.

Sarah Ruhl ranks among the most-produced living US playwrights. She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize twice, a Tony Award nominee, and has received the MacArthur Fellowship and PEN Theater Award. Her adaptation of EURYDICE for the opera was nominated for the 2023 Grammy Awards. Her memoir SMILE was among Time magazine’s 100 Must-Read Books 2021. We present the play with an original score by Ole Schmitt.

This production has been awarded BEST STAGE PRESENTATION at the international FEATS festival in Antwerp 2023!

Coproduced by the Amerikazentrum.