For Immediate Release: September 3, 2015
Theatre Media Contact: Kimberly Reilly, 610-519-7454, kimberly.reilly@villanova.edu
Villanova’s Eurydice transports audiences to a mythical, magical underworld
James Ijames directs Sarah Ruhl’s iconic re-telling of the ancient Greek myth
VILLANOVA, PA – Villanova Theatre proudly presents Sarah Ruhl’s poetic reimagining of the classic Greek myth,
Eurydice, directed by James Ijames and on stage September 22–October 4, 2015. On the heels of Sarah Ruhl’s
successful keynote address at the Philadelphia Theatre Research Symposium this past spring, Villanova Theatre
is thrilled to stage this iconic work by one of America’s leading female playwrights.
Life and death exist side-by-side as we follow Eurydice across the river Styx and into the underworld where she
reunites with her departed father and struggles to relearn the language of the living. Eurydice’s husband Orpheus
risks his own life when he resolves to sing Eurydice back to life by following her into the depths of Hades.
Eurydice must then decide whether to follow Orpheus out of death or to remain with her beloved father in her
strange new home. In Eurydice, nothing is what it seems – although everything seems familiar in this bittersweet
story that features a rain-filled elevator, talking stones, and a portrait of hell where the devil rides a child’s tricycle.
Ruhl’s re-telling of this classic tale emphasizes a strong female voice by reassigning the original narrative of the
classic Orphic myth from the male voice to the female heroine. Set in a time reminiscent of the mid-twentieth
century, when women were encouraged to look pretty and leave the thinking to the man, this piece playfully
examines female agency in a male-dominant culture. Written in dedication to Ruhl’s deceased father, the story
also explores the connection between a father and daughter; unbroken even by death.
Setting the tone for this whimsical play is Villanova professor James Ijames, who made his Villanova Theatre
directorial debut with last season’s Michael and Edie. An award-winning actor, playwright, director, and recent
2015 Pew Fellow, Ijames seeks to highlight the themes of “reclaiming identity and renewing relationships—but to
do so through the lens of an Alice in Wonderland-esque looking glass. We really travel down the rabbit hole
together on this one, and the story contains elements that will speak to each and every one of us differently.”
A seasoned team of inventive designers joins Ijames in creating the visual and aural world of this “rhapsodically
beautiful” play (The New York Times). Three-time Barrymore Award winner Janus Stefanowicz’s costumes evoke
the fashion of time gone by with stylish elegance and retro simplicity. Parris Bradley designs an industrialinspired, transformative set that connects the realm of the living with the world of the dead. Lighting designer
Jerold Forsyth and sound designer Alex Bechtel complete this exciting team of artists to create a visual fantasy
world supported by a soundscape reminiscent of the past.
Ijames directs a gifted ensemble who will bring this beautiful fable to life: second-year graduate student
Rebecca Jane Cureton (Eurydice), acting scholar Stephen Tornetta (Orpheus), first-years Kevin Esmond
(Father), Chris Monaco (Nasty Interesting Man), and a chorus of Stones played by second-year Megan Rose
and first-years Elizabeth Meisenzahl and Rachel O’Hanlon-Rodriguez.
Eurydice runs at Villanova Theatre from September 22nd- October 4th, 2015. Villanova Theatre is located on
the Villanova University campus in Vasey Hall (at Lancaster & Ithan Aves.). Performances will be held
Tuesdays – Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets run $21-$25, with discounts available for
seniors, students, M.A. in Theatre alumni, and groups. Tickets may be purchased at the Villanova Theatre Box
Office (M-S, 12 -5 p.m.) in person, by phone: (610) 519-7474, or online at www.villanovatheatre.org.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
James Ijames, M.F.A, is an Assistant Professor of Theatre and a Philadelphia-based actor, director and
playwright. He has appeared regionally at Arden Theatre Company, Philadelphia Theatre Company, the Wilma
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800 Lancaster Ave. • Villanova, PA 19085
610.519.7474 (box office) • 610.519.7454 (admin) • 610.519.6803 (fax) • theatre.villanova.edu
Theater, Baltimore Center Stage, and InterAct Theatre Company. Ijames's plays include The Most
Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, Moon Man Walk, The Threshing
Floor,and Osiris:Redux. His Barrymore Awards include the 2011 F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theatre
Artist, Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for Superior Donuts and Angels in America, and, most
recently, the 2014 Barrymore for Outstanding Direction of a Play for his work on The Brothers Size. In 2011,
Ijames received an Independence Foundation Fellowship in Performing Arts to train and create a new solo
piece with Emmanuelle Delpeche and Shavon Norris called FRoNTiN. This summer, Ijames was granted a
2015 Pew Fellowship. James is a member of the InterAct Core Writers Group and a mentor for The Foundry.
He received a B.A. in Drama from Morehouse College in Atlanta,and an M.F.A. in Acting from Temple
University. In his second year on the faculty of Villanova's Theatre Department, Ijames teaches Acting and
Collaborative Theatre Making.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Sarah Ruhl’s Plays include In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist, Tony Award nominee
for best new play), The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize Finalist, 2005; The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize,
2004); Passion Play, a cycle (Pen American award, The Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from The
Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes award); Melancholy Play; Eurydice;Orlando, Demeter
in the City (NAACP nomination), Late: a cowboy song, Three Sisters, and most recently,Stage Kiss and Dear
Elizabeth. 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, and downtown at
Clubbed Thumb and Classic Stage Company. Her plays have been produced regionally all over the country,
with premieres at Yale Repertory Theater, the Goodman Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theater, Arena Stage,
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Madison Repertory Theater, Cincinnati
Playhouse in the Park, Cornerstone Theater, and the Piven Theatre Workshop in Chicago. Her plays have also
been produced internationally in London, Germany, Australia, Canada and Israel, and have been translated into
Polish, Russian, Spanish, Norwegian, Korean, German and Arabic. Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received
her M.F.A. from Brown University where she studied with Paula Vogel. In 2003, she was the recipient of the
Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award and the Whiting Writers’ Award. She was a member of 13P and
of New Dramatists and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. She was recently the recipient of the PEN
Center Award for a mid-career playwright, the Feminist Press’ Forty under Forty award, and the 2010 Lilly
Award. She is currently on the faculty at Yale School of Drama and lives in Brooklyn with her family.
ABOUT VILLANOVA THEATRE
Villanova Theatre is a community of artist-scholars committed to transforming hearts and minds through the
visionary production of classical, modern, and contemporary dramatic literature. Our work is fueled by the
imaginative striving common to Villanova’s accomplished faculty, versatile staff, and energetic graduate
students. Together, we are devoted to creating a vibrant theatre enriched by and overflowing with the ideas
explored in our classrooms. In all of our endeavors, we aim to share the dynamic experience of collaborative
learning with our audiences in order to engage the intellect and stir the soul. As a facet of Villanova University,
Villanova Theatre serves the campus community as well as thousands of theatre-goers from the Main Line and
the Greater Philadelphia area.
ABOUT VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY
Since 1842, Villanova University’s Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an
academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving
others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six colleges –
the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the
College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University School of Law. As students
grow intellectually, Villanova prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere
life takes them.
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800 Lancaster Ave. • Villanova, PA 19085
610.519.7474 (box office) • 610.519.7454 (admin) • 610.519.6803 (fax) • theatre.villanova.edu
FACT SHEET FOR Eurydice
WRITTEN BY: Sarah Ruhl DIRECTED BY: James Ijames
WHERE: Villanova Theatre, Vasey Hall, Villanova University
WHEN: September 22 – October 4, 2015
800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085
***Free parking available in VU’s Main Lot (Lancaster & Ithan Avenues)
WEEK ONE
Tue 09/22, 8pm (Preview)
Wed 09/23, 8pm (Opening)
Thu 09/24, 8pm
Fri 09/25, 8pm
Sat 09/26, 8pm
Sun 09/27, 2pm
WEEK TWO
Tue 09/29, 8pm
Wed 09/30, 8pm
Thu 10/1, 8pm (Speaker’s Night)
Fri 10/2, 8pm
Sat 10/3, 8pm
Sun 10/4, 2pm (Closing)
SPECIAL EVENTS:
Speaker’s Night, 10/1: Please join us for a lively post-show discussion with the director, dramaturg, cast, and
crew of Eurydice at Villanova University.
TICKET PRICES: $21.00 Preview; $23.00 Weekday (Tue/Wed/Thu); $25.00 Weekend (Fri/Sat/Sun)
***Discounts Available for Seniors, Students, M.A. in Theatre alumni, and Groups.
TICKET INFORMATION: Buy online at villanovatheatre.org; Call 610-519-7474; Purchase in person at our box
office in Vasey Hall (open M-F, 12-5 p.m.)
CAST
Eurydice: Rebecca Jane Cureton
Orpheus: Stephen Matthew Tornetta
Father: Kevin Esmond
Nasty Interesting Man: Chris Monaco
Stones:
Megan Rose
Elizabeth Meisenzahl
Rachel O’Hanlon-Rodriguez
CREATIVE TEAM
Directed By: James Ijames
Scenic Design: Parris Bradley
Costume Design: Janus Stefanowicz
Lighting Design: Jerold R. Forsyth
Dramaturg: Meghan Trelease
Sound Design: Alex Bechtel
CALENDAR LISTING (+/- 100 WORDS): Descend into a mythical underworld replete with talking
stones, Hades on a bicycle, and a glowing river of the dead. In Sarah Ruhl’s fantastical
reimagining of the classic Greek myth, we join unsung heroine Eurydice as she parts with the love
of her life, journeys into death, reunites with her departed father, and struggles to relearn the
language of the living. Called “an inexpressibly moving theatrical fable about love, loss and the
pleasures and pains of memory” by The New York Times, Eurydice looks like a dream, sounds like
a poem, and feels like the breath of life.
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800 Lancaster Ave. • Villanova, PA 19085
610.519.7474 (box office) • 610.519.7454 (admin) • 610.519.6803 (fax) • theatre.villanova.edu
VILLANOVA THEATRE’S 2015- 2016 SEASON
Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl
directed by James Ijames
September 22nd- October 4th
Descend into a mythical underworld replete with talking stones, Hades on a bicycle, and a glowing river of
the dead. In Sarah Ruhl’s fantastical reimagining of the classic Greek myth, we join unsung heroine Eurydice
as she parts with the love of her life, journeys into death, reunites with her departed father, and struggles to
relearn the language of the living. Called “an inexpressibly moving theatrical fable about love, loss and the
pleasures and pains of memory” by The New York Times, Eurydice looks like a dream, sounds like a poem,
and feels like the breath of life.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
directed by James J. Christy
November 10 – 22, 2015
“Something wicked this way comes” in Shakespeare’s masterpiece of manipulation, murder, and mayhem.
Macbeth transports audiences to a mystical world where dark forces drive the hearts of men. When three
witches predict Macbeth’s ascension to the throne, he and his scheming wife start slashing their bloody path
to power, armed with violence, deception, and ruthless ambition. The Bard’s most thrilling tragedy boils over
with spine-tingling tension, hair-raising encounters with the supernatural, and diabolical characters whose
lust for power results in their inevitable downfall. When Macbeth “rushes headlong into the hurly-burly,” it
doesn’t stop, and “every breath starts to feel like a gasp” – The New York Times.
A Wonderful Noise Book by Michael Hollinger
Story, music, and lyrics by Michael Hollinger and Vance Lehmkuhl
directed by Harriet Power
February 9th-21st, 2016
As World War II rages in Europe, a different battle looms at home, as barbershop quartets from around the
country converge to harmonize their way to victory at the national championships in St. Louis. But one
group’s handlebar mustaches conceal an explosive secret: they’re actually four young women from
Philadelphia, determined to break the Barbershop Society’s gender barrier and prove that the girls can do it
just as well as (if not better than!) the boys. This heartfelt musical comedy celebrates the bonds of friendship
and music-making, as well as the courage required to live and love in a precarious world. With its screwball
storyline, witty lyrics, and tuneful Swing Era score, A Wonderful Noiseevokes the pleasures of a 1940s
musical with a 21st-century spin!
Translations by Brian Friel
directed by Valerie Joyce
April 12th – 24th, 2016
Irish treasure Brian Friel’s most celebrated play follows English soldier and cartographer George Yolland
to the town of Baile Baeg, where he finds himself falling in love with the local language and a local lass. But
can their love flourish as Empire and colony collide? Translations navigates the peaks and valleys of
love, communication, and the quest for freedom — taking audiences on a journey across cultural and
political boundaries. Hailed as a “modern masterpiece,” Friel's captivating play begs the question: is the
language of the heart universal?
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800 Lancaster Ave. • Villanova, PA 19085
610.519.7474 (box office) • 610.519.7454 (admin) • 610.519.6803 (fax) • theatre.villanova.edu