Feminist ‘Eurydice’ at Theatre Fairfield

Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot”™s “Wounded Eurydice” (1868, oil on canvas) is one ofmany iterations of the Orpheus and Eurydice legend that include Claudio Monteverdi”™s opera “Orfeo,” generally considered the first opera; Christoph Willibald Gluck”™s opera “Orfeo ed Euridice”; the Tennessee Williams”™ play “Orpheus Descending,” made into the film “The Fugitive Kind”; and the movie “Black Orpheus.”

Theatre Fairfield, Fairfield University”™s resident production company, will complete its 2022-2023 season with”¯Sarah Ruhl”™s “Eurydice,” a feminist twist on the protean, much adapted Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice 

In Ruhl”™s play, Eurydice is the protagonist, not the one being  sought but rather the one searching ”“for her identity as a woman and as a human being. Although Eurydice is still defined by her relationship to her beloved husband, Orpheus”” she is making her own choices of how she will live, die and deal with her grief, loss and love. With this production, Martha S. LoMonaco, Ph.D., professor of theater, concludes her work as a feminist theater historian, activist and the company”™s resident director. 

“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,” LoMonaco said. “[It”™s] a softly feminist play, which follows the journey of a young woman, not unlike (a) 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.” 

“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.” 

”¯“Eurydice” will be performed Thursday and Friday, April 20 and 21 at 7:30 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday, April 22 and Sunday, April 23, in the Wien Black Box at the Quick Center for the Arts. Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 for all students.  For tickets, call 203-254-4010 or visit ”¯quickcenter.fairfield.edu.”¯