PHILADELPHIA, PA – East Falls’ historic Old Academy Players celebrates its 96th season presenting EURYDICE by Sarah Ruhl. This dramatic comedy, and Old Academy’s 516th production, is directed by Jane Jennings and produced by Jennifer Sivers/Roberts and Michael Roberts. Show dates are: November 2, 3, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, & 18, 2018; Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
EURYDICE is a modern and poignant retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice from the perspective of Eurydice. When Eurydice dies tragically, Orpheus sets out to find her in the Underworld, and bring her back. However, in the Underworld she has been reunited with her dead father, and is torn between leaving him and returning to life with Orpheus. The play is a whimsical meditation on love and grief, told with playwright Sarah Ruhl’s distinctive quirkiness and heart. It is said the Ms. Ruhl wrote this play when she was mourning the death of her father. It was a way that she could talk to him.
The play had its world premiere at Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, Wisconsin, on September 2003. The play opened off-Broadway in 2007 and received several award nominations, including the 2008 Drama League Award, Distinguished Production of a Play and the 2008 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Set Design of a Play. The New York Times called it a “weird and wonderful new play.”
Sarah Rule is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and a Tony Award nominee. Her plays have been produced on Broadway at the Lyceum by Lincoln Center Theater, off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, and at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater. Her plays have been produced regionally all over the country and have also been produced internationally, and translated into over twelve languages. Ms. Ruhl has received the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award, the Whiting Award, the Lilly Award, a PEN award for mid-career playwrights, and the MacArthur “genius” Award. Her book of essays “100 Essays I Don’t Have Time to Write” was published by Faber and Faber. She teaches at the Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Old Academy’s amazing cast includes Matthew Thompson as Orpheus, Samantha Simpson as Eurydice, Michael Tarringer as Father, Natalie Bonacci as Loud Stone, Natalie Pendergast as Little Stone, Michael Jeffrey Cohen as Big Stone, and Timothy Schumann as Nasty Interesting Man/Child.
Old Academy Players, where Grace Kelly and Robert Prosky made their stage debuts, is a non-profit community theater located at 3544 Indian Queen Lane in East Falls (Philadelphia), the urban village on the Schuylkill River. Constructed in 1819, the Old Academy building has been the OAP home since 1932. Old Academy Players has provided continuous community theater since 1923 and is a member of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance.
Show times are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm. Parking for all performances is free. Ticket price is $20 per person. Buy tickets online at www.oldacademyplayers.org. Old Academy welcomes groups! Take advantage of group discount pricing ($17 per person with 15 or more people in a group). Call 215-843-1109 for more information and tickets.
Theater/Organization OLD ACADEMY PLAYERS
Theater/Organization Website: https://oldacademyplayers.org/
Theater/Organization Address: 3544 Indian Queen Lane Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19129 (Map It)
Theater/Organization Phone: (215) 843-1109
