Photo Flash: Independent Drama Society's EURYDICE

From April 22-30, the Independent Drama Society completes its 2010-2011 season, a season of love and loathing, with EURYDICE by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Artistic Director Lindsay Eagle (The Shape of Things).

Lose yourself to the depths of the underworld in Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-nominated author Sarah Ruhl's tale of memory, loss, and love. Independent Drama Society's Artistic Director Lindsay Eagle (The Shape of Things, The Pronoun 'I') invokes a haunting and magical circus world for this modern adaptation of a Greek love story. Blurring the line between dream and reality, EURYDICE has been hailed by the New York Times as "weird and wonderful" and "gripping and emotionally potent."

Sarah Ruhl's plays include In The Next Room (or the vibrator play); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, 2005; Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, 2004); Passion Play, a cycle (Pen American Award, Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center); Dead Man's Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play); Melancholy Play; Demeter in the City (nine NAACP Image Award nominations); Eurydice; Orlando; and Late: a cowboy song. Her plays have premiered at Lincoln Center Theater, the Goodman Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Cornerstone Theater, Madison Repertory Theatre and the Piven Theatre Workshop, and have been produced across the country. Her plays have also been produced internationally and translated into Polish, Russian, Spanish, Norwegian, Korean, German and Arabic. Originally from Chicago, Ms. Ruhl received her MFA from Brown University, where she studied with PaulaVogel. In 2003, she was the recipient of the Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award and the Whiting Writers' Award. She is a member of 13P and New Dramatists and won the MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. She is a recent recipient of the PEN CenterAward for a mid-career playwright.

"Imaginative and moving, Eurydice transcends the human experience," explains Lindsay Eagle, IDS's Artistic Director and the director of the production. "It speaks to our innards, our guts, to the powerful, irrational emotions that govern our existence. Sarah Ruhl's treatment of love and loss is universal, and it is my hope you will be touched. Simply said, it's a beautiful play."

The Independent Drama Society production features: Chris Anton, Cliff Blake, Melissa DeJesus, Zach Eisenstat, Sarah J. Gazdowicz, Coriana Hunt Swartz, Sierra Kagen, Chris Larson, Adam Lauver, Glen Moore, Greg Nussen, Micah Tougas, Victoria Townsend, and introducing Annie Winneg as Eurydice.

The design team includes Abigail Neuhoff (Set Design), SamAra Martin (Costume Design), Matthew Breton (Lighting Design), and Chris Larson (Sound Design). Laura Schlein is the Stage Manager and Chris Anton is the Production Manager.

EURYDICE will run for two weeks in the Plaza Black Box Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street in Boston's South End. Tickets can be purchased on www.bostontheatrescene.com for $23 in advance, $28 day of show, or $18 for students/seniors.

Director Lindsay Eagle is a founding member of the Independent Drama Society and now serves proudly as Artistic Director. She holds a B.A. in Theatre from Suffolk University. Directing credits include Tennessee Williams' The Pronoun ‘I' (Suffolk University), Midlands (SLAMBoston), and Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things (Independent Drama Society). Favorite onstage credits: the Witch in Into the Woods (Suffolk University), Sister Trowbridge in Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder (Boston Actors Theatre), Susan in Say No More! (SLAMBoston), and Beth in Dinner with Friends (Independent Drama Society). Lindsay has been plotting this production of Eurydice for almost 2 years and is thrilled to finally bring it to life.

Photo Credit: Rob Lorino