 |
|
|||
World Premiere at Zero Arrow Theatre: March 25 - April 23, 2006 ORPHEUS X Appearing at the Edinburgh International Festival, August 25-29, 2007 International Touring Representation: Composer/performer Rinde Eckert and director Robert Woodruff, creators of Highway Ulysses, have joined forces with video artist Denise Marika to create another stunning, contemporary riff on a searing ancient myth – this time the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. The famous singer Orpheus has locked himself up in his recording studio, where he dreams of rescuing the poet Eurydice from the underworld. Eurydice, meanwhile, is welcomed to the afterlife by the Queen of the Dead, who offers her something she could never have in the world above.
set design by David Zinn and Denise Marika ARTicles - Slide Show - cast - synopsis - CD store - press & related links - poster |
|||||
|
|
|
A famous singer named Orpheus has shut himself up in his recording studio. A few weeks ago, Orpheus was a passenger in a cab that hit and killed the poet Eurydice as she was crossing the street. Ever since the accident, Orpheus has been obsessed with Eurydice. He sings about her, reads her books of poetry, and imagines her alive in the world with him. Orpheus' manager keeps coming to the studio, trying to convince the singer that he can't be in love with a woman he never even knew, and that he must get back out in the world. Meanwhile, Eurydice meets Persephone, the queen of the underworld. Persephone reads Eurydice's poetry aloud, and Eurydice shares her creative process with the Queen. Persephone lets Eurydice know that she will soon bathe in the River of Forgetfulness and see everything - including her own poetry - with fresh eyes. Orpheus can't stop thinking about Eurydice. He decides that in order to rescue himself and start performing in public again he must retrieve Eurydice from the underworld. With the help of his manager, he makes a trip to the world below, where he sings a song that persuades Persephone to release Eurydice. The Queen tells Orpheus he can take Eurydice back to the world of the living, but sets one condition: he can't look at her during their ascent. As soon as they begin their journey out of the underworld, Eurydice rips off Orpheus' blindfold, forces him to look at her, and condemns herself to death everlasting. |
RINDE ECKERT CD STORE - please reload this page if three Rinde Eckert CD cover images do not appear below |
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
| Funding for Orpheus X has been provided in part by: | |
| Meet the Composer/USA National Endowment for the Arts Michael Jacobson |
The Rockefeller Foundation/Multi-arts Production Fund The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust |
|
This page updated August 27, 2007 |
|