One of Durango’s newest directors is putting a modern spin on an ancient tale. This Thursday, the Artists Community Theatre (ACT) – directed by recent FLC graduate Erin O’Connor – presents “Eurydice,” a contemporary adaptation of the Greek myth of Orpheus. Written by American playwright Sarah Ruhl, the play tells the classic tale from the perspective of Orpheus’ bride, Eurydice (pronounced “yoo-rid-eh-see”). Played outstandingly here by Molly Quinn, heroine Eurydice is an ingénue caught between two worlds. Her love interest, Orpheus, acted by Avery Scott, is slightly less clueless than his bride and lives life through his songs; offering his intended the fervent wish, “May our lives be full of music!”

Justthefacts What: “Eurydice,” a play by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Erin O’Connor. Who: ACT – Artists Community Theatre Where: Henry Strater Theatre, 699 Main Ave. When: May 7-9 &15-17 at 7:30 pm. Tickets:  $15 general admission; $10 students and seniors over 65. Available at the Durango Welcome Center, 802 Main Ave., (970) 247-7657 and at the door or www.HenryStraterTheatre.com

The local production of Ruhl’s play is O’Connor’s post-graduate directorial debut. ACT is a theatrical group, first founded in 1997 by Durango actor, director and playwright Jeff Deitch, that offers aspiring performers and directors opportunities to develop their craft in the local theatre community.
As one may recall from the original Greek tale, the main story takes place in the underworld. It is there that we meet Eurydice’s dead father, played commandingly by Deitch. Somehow the father has managed to retain his memory and the ability to read and write, and although he is not permitted to do any of these things in the underworld, he keeps trying to send letters to his daughter. It is important for the audience to keep in mind that memory is an asset lost to most of the underworld’s inhabitants, and preserving any trace of one’s prior life is a losing struggle.

(Spoiler alert: on her wedding day, at the end of the first act, Eurydice falls to her death and descends to the underworld.) Upon arrival in an elevator, she is greeted by her father as well as a chorus of menacing “stones,” played by Jayci Aragon and Molly Christensen. It is their job to admonish the underworld’s newcomers to stick to the rules and continually remind them to be more like ... stones. They are equally cloying and annoying as they offer advice on how to get along in the underworld.

The lord of the underworld, portrayed by Andrew Hook, first appears at the wedding reception as an interloping cad and then later enters the underworld as a tricycle-riding child. Hook plays the unnamed lord as an over-the-top, creepy, Pee-Wee Herman-esque psycho who makes a deal with Orpheus allowing him to take Eurydice back to the living world. Eurydice, however, is torn between returning with Orpheus and staying in the underworld with her father.  

For theater folk in Durango, rehearsing a play has its challenges because space in which to do so is hard to come by. O’Connor admitted that Eurydice was “a homeless show” up until a few days before the opening. Until they moved into the Henry Strater Theatre last week, they had been practicing at the FLC Mainstage Theater as well as the Elks Club. “We have, however, been so lucky that the Elks Lodge has housed us for the most part! We are very grateful to them,” she said.

Despite, the lack of consistency, during a recent rehearsal at FLC, the ensemble had its lines down pat and the rehearsal went off without a hitch. There was great energy exhibited by the entire cast that is sure to transcend into the audience.

At curtain, we meet the young lovers Orpheus and Eurydice, who embrace, kiss and dance with joy over their impending nuptials. The story, of course, literally goes downhill from there as the action enters the realm of the underworld, where the heart of the story unfolds. Eurydice’s father and Orpheus write and read letters to her that serve as a narrative throughout the story, but getting them to her is fraught with obstacles, not the least of which is having her read them.

Molly Quinn, as Eurydice, and Jeffrey Deitch, as her father, perform in the play “Eurydice,” presented by Artists Community Theatre, or ACT. The theatrical group was founded in 1997 by Deitch./Photo by Jennaye Derge

Director O’Connor earned a B.A. in theatre from Fort Lewis College. She has performed in several plays there including “Little Women,” “Macbeth” and “Why Torture Is Wrong and the People Who Love Them.” She also studied the Margolis-Brown Method of performing in New York and concedes that most of her training has been in directing, so she is in her comfort zone.

At first blush, a play based on a Greek tragedy might seem an odd choice for a first time director, but as O’Connor explained, she chose Eurydice because it has a “flawless” script. “Basically, it’s hard to mess it up,” she said. According to O’Connor, Ruhl’s style fluctuates between highly poetic to a more pedestrian, prosaic style. “It’s lovely. It’s also a classic that has been made contemporary by turning the story on its head, which is definitely something I’m drawn to!”

The original myth was told from Orpheus’ perspective while Eurydice is silenced, but in Ruhl’s modern version Eurydice has the voice, “Which,” according to O’Connor, “is a certain kind of justice.”

In choosing the complex script for her directorial debut, O’Connor acknowledged her trust in the sophistication of Durango audiences. “We are an art-loving community,” she said. “Maybe this show is exactly what audiences want!”

For its part, the play incorporates humor, pathos, love and loss. At a little over an hour in length, “Eurydice” may leave audiences wanting more, but isn’t that what a good theater experience should be?