Wilma Theater presents the Philadelphia Premiere of Eurydice April 30- June 1, 2008

The Wilma Theater proudly presents the Philadelphia Premiere of Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, and directed by Wilma co-Artistic Director, Blanka Zizka. A Pulitzer Prize nominee and MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship winner, Ruhl was introduced to Wilma audiences in 2005 with her heartwarming play, The Clean House. Finally, with Eurydice comes a much anticipated artistic reunion.

Eurydice begins previews on April 30, opens on May 7, and closes on June 1, 2008. Tickets are $37-$52 and are available by calling the Wilma Box Office at (215) 546-7824 or online at www.wilmatheater.org.

Hailed as “a magical play with gripping emotional potency… a love letter to the world” by The New York Times, Eurydice is a modern tale of loss and love as the classic myth of Orpheus is retold from the heroine’s point of view, abounding with surprising plot twists and quirky humor. On the day Eurydice is to marry her true love Orpheus, a tragic misstep sends her plummeting to the surreal depths of the underworld. Memories are forbidden in this world of the dead, but an unexpected reunion with her father vividly awakens Eurydice’s mind with the love she felt in life. When Orpheus braves the gates of hell to find her, Eurydice must painfully decide whether to remain with her father or return to her earthly love.

An original musical score from renowned composer Toby Twining – whose music was described by the Los Angeles Times as “a thing of disarming beauty” – makes the Wilma’s production the first to incorporate live musicians and original music into the play. Zizka says she wanted to add emotional depth to the piece with music and was struck by Twining’s innovative vocal compositions after hearing excerpts from his Chrysalid Requiem on National Public Radio. Twining is a 2003 Pew Fellow and the founder and director of the vocal ensemble, Toby Twining Music. His music has been recorded on Shaman (BMG Classics), The Art of Toy Piano (Point/Polygram), A Prairie Home Companion 20th Anniversary Edition (Hughbridge Music), Chrysalid Requiem (Cantaloupe Music) and Anthem (Oxingale/Artemis Classics).

The striking vision of Eurydice’s underworld is created by a multiple-award-winning team of designers who have worked together at many different venues in both Philadelphia and New York. The work of both set designer Mimi Lien and lighting designer Tyler Micoleau was last seen at the Wilma in The Life of Galileo. Costume designer Oana Botez-Ban is new to the Wilma and was chosen by Zizka after seeing her costumes for the Pennsylvania Ballet’s Carmina Burana. Sound designer Jorge Cousineau has previously designed sound for numerous Wilma productions, most recently Ying Tong – A Walk with the Goons.

The Wilma’s production features Merritt Janson in the title role. Janson is a Philadelphia native now based in New York. She received her MFA from the A.R.T./MXAT Institute at Harvard University. Her credits include productions at American Repertory Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Vineyard Playhouse, and Amaryllis Theatre Co.

Comprising the rest of the cast are Gene D’Alessandro as Big Stone, Ben Huber as Orpheus, Stephen Novelli as Father, Erin Reilly as Little Stone, Triney Sandoval as Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld, and Cathy Simpson as Loud Stone.

Live music will be performed by tenor Steven Bradshaw, male soprano Eric Brenner, mezzo/alto Elizabeth Filios, conductor and bass Mark Johnson, and cellist Floreta Shapiro.

The story of Orpheus in Greek mythology focuses on his journey to the underworld, but Ruhl’s version puts the emphasis on Eurydice. “There have been lots of re-tellings of the Orpheus story… We know a great deal about Orpheus’ loss,” Ruhl says. “But for some reason we never hear from Eurydice — she’s always a cipher, someone who dies twice. I’m interested in her voice. I’m interested in anyone who dies twice… In my own life, I lost my father too young, and in many ways I think I wrote Eurydice as a way to have more conversations with him.”

Discussing what has led her to examine the afterlife in both Eurydice and her new play Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Ruhl says, “It sometimes feels as though we're no longer looking at the whole life cycle. Death is viewed as an odd aberration that happens to the unlucky, rather than something we ought to set our sights on in terms of how we live our daily lives. I think theater is a place where we can talk to ghosts, conjure the invisible, and meditate on the shortness of life, even as we try to live in it fully.”

The MacArthur Foundation, in naming Ruhl one of its 2006 fellows, described her as a “playwright creating vivid and adventurous theatrical works that poignantly juxtapose the mundane aspects of daily life with mythic themes of love and war.” Ruhl's other plays include The Clean House (Susan Smith Blackburn Award, 2004, Pulitzer Prize finalist, PEN Award), Melancholy Play, Late: a cowboy song, Orlando, Demeter in the City (NAACP Image Award nomination), Passion Play, a cycle (Fourth Forum Freedom Award, Kennedy Center). Her plays have been performed at Lincoln Center Theater, Second Stage, Playwrights Horizons, the Goodman Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and Berkeley Repertory Theatre, among many other theaters across the country. Her plays have been translated into German, Polish, Korean, Russian and Spanish and have been produced internationally in London, Canada, Germany, Latvia, and Poland. Ruhl received her MFA from Brown University, and is originally from Chicago. She is the recipient of a Helen Merrill Award, Whiting Writers' Award, and a Macarthur Fellowship.

Additional Events
Symposium: Eurydice (and us) in the underworld

May 19, 7pm
$10, or free for Eurydice ticketholders

The Wilma will present a symposium on May 19 discussing the concept of the afterlife as a fertile subject for art. Panelists include Dr. Jesse M. Bering, Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture of the Queen's University, Belfast; Mary Lefkowitz, one of the best-known classical scholars in the United States, formerly the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Wellesley College; and celebrated American poet and MacArthur Fellow Eleanor Wilner. The symposium is moderated by Wilma Dramaturg and Literary Manager Walter Bilderback. The Wilma Theater's panel discussions are supported by a grant from The Wallace Foundation Excellence Awards, which were created to support exemplary arts organizations to pioneer effective practices to engage more people in high-value arts activities. Additional support is provided by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council.

Pride Night Pre-show Party: May 30, 7 – 8pm
Free for Euydice ticketholders

The Wilma will also host an evening for Philadelphia’s LGBT community with wine tastings and snacks courtesy of Tria.

RSVP for both events required. Please the Wilma Box Office at (215) 546-7824.

The Wilma's 2007-2008 season is sponsored by The Sporting Club and Park Hyatt at the Bellevue, and WHYY. Eurydice is sponsored by PECO and made possible in part by a grant from the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, a program of the Philadelphia Center for Arts and Heritage, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by The University of the Arts; and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional generous support has been provided by Honorary Producer Michael J. Finney