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Greek myth gets all wet at Clark State

‘Eurydice’ production hopes to avoid making a splash

Marshall Gorby The cast of Clark State's "Eurydice," (front to back) Elizabeth Dillard, T.C. Schreier, Nick Moberg and Joel Bonsell, will put a new spin on an ancient Greek myth.

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By Andrew McGinn, Staff Writer 5:11 PM Thursday, October 29, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — As an educator, Theresa Abshear Lauricella wants to make sure her theater students at Clark State Community College will be prepared for anything.

That’s why, for the college’s take on the Orpheus myth, her student thespians will have to avoid a pit of spikes, man-eating tigers and the occasional trident-wielding slave eunuch.

Uh. Wait.

Orpheus is Greek, not Roman.

Even still, the set for Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice” — a contemporary spin on an ancient tragedy that opens Friday, Oct. 30, in Turner Studio Theatre — includes a re-creation of the Greek underworld, complete with a working replica of Lethe, the “river of forgetfulness.”

The river actually is a system of pipes that, all during the show, will trickle into a 3-foot pool cut into the middle of the set.

The seven-person cast might want to take its chances with the eunuchs instead.

“If any of us fall into the pool, the show’s over,” said T.C. Schreier, who plays Eurydice’s father. “There’s no way to  recover.”

For director Lauricella, the play is another teachable moment.

“A cell phone might ring,” she said, “or you might get to work with water on stage.”

Live theater already is dangerous enough.

“It’s like that high-wire act,” Lauricella said. “Anything can happen. And now you have water on stage.”

Ruhl’s script also calls for a “raining elevator,” which is pretty much just that.

In her take on Greek mythology, an elevator serves as the passageway to the underworld, which is probably for the better — Turner Studio is a wee small for a re-creation of the River Styx.

“My underworld geography is a weak point,” Lauricella confessed.

But inside the elevator, it’s raining. More water.

Naturally, the floors of Clark State’s Turner Studio — not to mention the wood set — had to be waterproofed.

“This show is the biggest playground I’ve ever been given,” said Nick Moberg, who plays Orpheus.

In Ruhl’s 2003 update, audiences get the story from Eurydice’s point of view.

In the myth as we know it, the lyre-playing Orpheus marries Eurydice, but on their wedding day, she gets bitten by a snake, dies and goes to the underworld, leading to a rescue attempt by her hubby.

(And if you’re thinking of the guy who married his mom, that’s actually Oedipus.)

The water presumably is symbolic of something. Try to figure it out yourself — or just be entertained by the fact that someone might fall into the pool.

“I’ve asked for it to be warm,” Lauricella said. “Whether I’ll get that, I don’t know.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0352 or amcginn@coxohio.com.