Fairfield University’s resident production company presents a Sarah Ruhl play that's a feminist twist on the classic Greek myth.
Theatre Fairfield, Fairfield University’s resident production company, will complete its 2022-23 season with Eurydice, by Sarah Ruhl, a feminist twist on the classic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice will be performed Wednesday, April 19 through Friday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23.
Performances will be held in person in the Wien Black Box at the Quick Center for the Arts. Tickets are now on sale at the Quick Center Box Office: $10 general admission, $5 for all students. Call the box office at 203-254-4010 or buy tickets online at quickcenter.fairfield.edu.
In Ruhl’s play, Eurydice is the protagonist; she is searching for her identity and her truth as a woman and as a human being. Although Eurydice is still defined by her relationship to the two men in her life — her father and husband — she is making her own choices for how she will live, die, and deal with her grief, loss, and love. Martha S. LoMonaco, PhD, professor of theatre, in her final production as resident director for Theatre Fairfield, is pleased to conclude her work as a feminist theatre historian, activist, and director with this production.
“Ruhl has evolved into a fiery feminist dramatist in the 20 years since she wrote Eurydice but the seeds of that emergence are clearly in this play,” said Dr. LoMonaco. “[It’s] a softly feminist play which follows the journey of a young woman, not unlike all the young woman at Fairfield University, seeking to figure out who she is and what she wants on her terms: not on society’s, not on her parents’, not on her partner’s, but in her own way. It’s very empowering and very, very beautiful.”
Dr. LoMonaco and her cast also hope that their production captures the beauty of Ruhl’s script.
“I think anyone, especially a college student, can relate to the idea of discovering yourself despite the obstacles when you’re thrown into a new environment,” said Lillie Kortrey ’23, the student-actor playing Eurydice. “[She] spends the duration of the play finding her own identity, all while experiencing love, loss, and grief, which is something the classical Greek myth and subsequent interpretations don’t give her the opportunity to do.”
The Eurydice cast features Ben Dressel ’26, Nora Jacobi ’25, Lillie Kortrey ’23, Anthony Lupercio ’26, Emily Sheridan ’24, Alyssa Suarez ’25, and Liam Tuohey-Kay ’26. The production’s artistic team includes producer Lynne Porter, costume designer Julie Leavitt, movement choreographer Brad Roth, set designer Karl Ruling, lighting designer Lynne Chase, technical director Anne Kendall, stage manager Margot Weiss, assistant stage managers Grace Galasso ’26 and Cara Rommeney ’26, and intimacy director Jamie Monahan. An original score for the production is being composed and will be performed live by Michael A. Ciavaglia ’04, DMA, co-director of the Music program in the College of Arts and Sciences, with violist Elizabeth Messier ’26 and bass guitarist Andrew Margaritis ’26 of Fairfield’s Music Program.
Theatre Fairfield is Fairfield University’s resident theatre company, run by the Theatre program. Theatre Fairfield produces four productions every year. It also serves as a platform for community engagement. It is a positive and professional learning environment, run on a professional theatre model. The Wien Blackbox Theatre in The Quick Center for the Arts is their performing home and their theatre classroom is in Canisius Hall on Fairfield’s campus. For more information on how the original Orpheus and Eurydice evolved, and for Theatre Fairfield’s dramaturgical work, visit theatre-fairfield.org.
