To what lengths would you go for true love? What physical or mental perils would you face to reunite with a loved one?
Northeast State Theatre takes on these universal questions of love, death, and the afterlife in its spring production of Eurydice happening April 20-23 at the performing arts center on the Blountville campus.
Combining classic Greek tragedy, compelling characters, and Northeast State Theatre’s award-winning sound and visual creations, the play takes a fresh look at a timeless love story. Directing his first play at Northeast State is associate professor of Theatre, T.J. Kent, who joined the faculty in 2022.
“It follows Eurydice while she’s in the underworld and seeing all the events of her thoughts,” said Kent. “We get to see her perspective of the experience rather than simply waiting for Orpheus.”
Kent joined the theatre faculty in 2022. He spent 10 years as theatre instructor/professor at Walters State Community College. He is an alumnus of East Tennessee State University and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.
The story’s focus remains as Orpheus seeks out Eurydice to bring her back from the dead. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld. As a nod to Orpheus’ superhuman skills as a musician, playwright Sarah Ruhl constructed Eurydice as three musical movements construed as three dramatic acts. The play runs just over one hour in length.
Greek drama from Oedipus to Electra feature strong characters with terrible flaws. What continues to capture audiences’ imagination of ancient Greek mythologies? Kent believes the timeless themes of love, risk, fear, and death keep audiences of all types drawn to drama.
“Are there people you love so much you would go into the underworld to retrieve? I think that is something to consider,” he said. “There are always these incredible high stakes in Greek drama about gods and humans and life and death; but not just life and death; it involves everything that happens after you’re dead, too.”
Like so much of classic Greek drama, the plays deal with the highest human rewards and risks. Love or loss, life or death make people fearful. In this production, Eurydice reunites with her mother in the underworld. This reunion restores an element of their family despite their surroundings.
The Greek term of “catharsis” where emotions of heroes and villains were purged on stage created an intense theatrical experience. Kent noted how many stories of film and theater remain strongly influenced by Greek mythology.
“There is not a big jump from seeing Captain America to seeing Hercules,” he said. “We’ve been fascinated with that throughout our journey as human beings.”
Seven cast members portray the play’s characters. Kent praised the cast and crew for their dedication to bringing a modern vision of an ancient classic to life.
“I’ve been really impressed with all the work they’ve done,” he said. “They have been working very hard and bringing some great ideas.”
The set brings the characters and audience into a frigid underworld removed from any warmth. The elements of live theatre cannot be created with CGI. Student crew members develop all the working details of a production.
As the characters’ journey from the world of the living to the underworld of the dead, the presence of light changes dramatically. Student Keila Jordan takes on the formidable task of lighting designer for Eurydice. She is responsible for designing the lighting plot and cues to create light effects that frame the story’s visual mood.
“It is lot of drafting and putting up lights and troubleshooting lighting,” she said. “It is stressful at the moment, but I’m happy I am doing it.”
Jordan earned a nomination from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region IV proctors for her student costume design work on The Mousetrap. She also did costume design for Northeast State Theatre’s past productions of Alice in Wonderland and The Haunting of Hill House.
Northeast State alumna Sage Dinger returned to the Theatre department to work on the production as hair and makeup designer. The characters of Eurydice and Orpheus require attention to detail to reflect their personalities. Dinger noted the play’s inanimate characters also required a personality created via hair and makeup.
“I am trying to bring characters to life, some with more complex make-up to capture the age, the era and the world so it all flows really well,” said Dinger.
Dinger’s resume includes two KCACTF IV nominations for hair and makeup design for past productions of Alice in Wonderland, The Haunting of Hill House and The Mousetrap.
As prop master, student Kaylee Osborne handles a variety of tools of inanimate objects used throughout the production. Osborne crocheted yards of material to create a “string room” of the underworld. Her prop to-do list included teaching herself how to construct a parachute and build a tricycle.
“It is a lot of experimenting with what would work and using things that are meant for other things,” said Osborne.
Student Rebecca Maxwell takes on the role of head costume designer for the play. Maxwell’s costuming skills were on full display in past shows. She served as assistant costume designer for the productions of Alice in Wonderland and The Mousetrap. Maxwell said the crew worked closely using color and light to give a cohesive look to the play.
“I have a lot of people to help with small details that are easy but take time,” said Maxwell. “That way I can focus on the bigger projects; it has been a lot of collaboration.”
She earned a KCACTF IV Allied Design nomination with fellow student Adriana Galvin for their work on The Mousetrap.
Opening night is April 20. The curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. Evening performances continue April 21 and 22 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. One matinee performance is scheduled for April 23 at 2:00 p.m. All performances take place at the Ballad Health Performing Arts Center on the Blountville campus next to Tri-Cities Airport. Tickets are $8 general admission and $5 for students, staff, and children.
“It is going to be amazing,” said Osborne. “I’ve seen ten minutes of rehearsal and almost cried twice.”
This play is being presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., a Concord Theatricals Company. In compliance with the American Disabilities Act, Northeast State honors requests for reasonable accommodations made by individuals with disabilities. Direct requests can be made at least 10 days in advance to (voice and TTY) 423.279.7640.
Get tickets now at https://northeaststate.vbotickets.com/events. For more information please contact the Box Office at 423.354.5169.
To what lengths would you go for true love? What physical or mental perils would you face to reunite with a loved one?
Northeast State Theatre takes on these universal questions of love, death, and the afterlife in its spring production of Eurydice happening April 20-23 at the performing arts center on the Blountville campus.
Combining classic Greek tragedy, compelling characters, and Northeast State Theatre’s award-winning sound and visual creations, the play takes a fresh look at a timeless love story. Directing his first play at Northeast State is associate professor of Theatre, T.J. Kent, who joined the faculty in 2022.
“It follows Eurydice while she’s in the underworld and seeing all the events of her thoughts,” said Kent. “We get to see her perspective of the experience rather than simply waiting for Orpheus.”
Kent joined the theatre faculty in 2022. He spent 10 years as theatre instructor/professor at Walters State Community College. He is an alumnus of East Tennessee State University and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.
The story’s focus remains as Orpheus seeks out Eurydice to bring her back from the dead. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld. As a nod to Orpheus’ superhuman skills as a musician, playwright Sarah Ruhl constructed Eurydice as three musical movements construed as three dramatic acts. The play runs just over one hour in length.
Greek drama from Oedipus to Electra feature strong characters with terrible flaws. What continues to capture audiences’ imagination of ancient Greek mythologies? Kent believes the timeless themes of love, risk, fear, and death keep audiences of all types drawn to drama.
“Are there people you love so much you would go into the underworld to retrieve? I think that is something to consider,” he said. “There are always these incredible high stakes in Greek drama about gods and humans and life and death; but not just life and death; it involves everything that happens after you’re dead, too.”
Like so much of classic Greek drama, the plays deal with the highest human rewards and risks. Love or loss, life or death make people fearful. In this production, Eurydice reunites with her mother in the underworld. This reunion restores an element of their family despite their surroundings.
The Greek term of “catharsis” where emotions of heroes and villains were purged on stage created an intense theatrical experience. Kent noted how many stories of film and theater remain strongly influenced by Greek mythology.
“There is not a big jump from seeing Captain America to seeing Hercules,” he said. “We’ve been fascinated with that throughout our journey as human beings.”
Seven cast members portray the play’s characters. Kent praised the cast and crew for their dedication to bringing a modern vision of an ancient classic to life.
“I’ve been really impressed with all the work they’ve done,” he said. “They have been working very hard and bringing some great ideas.”
The set brings the characters and audience into a frigid underworld removed from any warmth. The elements of live theatre cannot be created with CGI. Student crew members develop all the working details of a production.
As the characters’ journey from the world of the living to the underworld of the dead, the presence of light changes dramatically. Student Keila Jordan takes on the formidable task of lighting designer for Eurydice. She is responsible for designing the lighting plot and cues to create light effects that frame the story’s visual mood.
“It is lot of drafting and putting up lights and troubleshooting lighting,” she said. “It is stressful at the moment, but I’m happy I am doing it.”
Jordan earned a nomination from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF) Region IV proctors for her student costume design work on The Mousetrap. She also did costume design for Northeast State Theatre’s past productions of Alice in Wonderland and The Haunting of Hill House.
Northeast State alumna Sage Dinger returned to the Theatre department to work on the production as hair and makeup designer. The characters of Eurydice and Orpheus require attention to detail to reflect their personalities. Dinger noted the play’s inanimate characters also required a personality created via hair and makeup.
“I am trying to bring characters to life, some with more complex make-up to capture the age, the era and the world so it all flows really well,” said Dinger.
Dinger’s resume includes two KCACTF IV nominations for hair and makeup design for past productions of Alice in Wonderland, The Haunting of Hill House and The Mousetrap.
As prop master, student Kaylee Osborne handles a variety of tools of inanimate objects used throughout the production. Osborne crocheted yards of material to create a “string room” of the underworld. Her prop to-do list included teaching herself how to construct a parachute and build a tricycle.
“It is a lot of experimenting with what would work and using things that are meant for other things,” said Osborne.
Student Rebecca Maxwell takes on the role of head costume designer for the play. Maxwell’s costuming skills were on full display in past shows. She served as assistant costume designer for the productions of Alice in Wonderland and The Mousetrap. Maxwell said the crew worked closely using color and light to give a cohesive look to the play.
“I have a lot of people to help with small details that are easy but take time,” said Maxwell. “That way I can focus on the bigger projects; it has been a lot of collaboration.”
She earned a KCACTF IV Allied Design nomination with fellow student Adriana Galvin for their work on The Mousetrap.
Opening night is April 20. The curtain goes up at 7:30 p.m. Evening performances continue April 21 and 22 at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. One matinee performance is scheduled for April 23 at 2:00 p.m. All performances take place at the Ballad Health Performing Arts Center on the Blountville campus next to Tri-Cities Airport. Tickets are $8 general admission and $5 for students, staff, and children.
“It is going to be amazing,” said Osborne. “I’ve seen ten minutes of rehearsal and almost cried twice.”
This play is being presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., a Concord Theatricals Company. In compliance with the American Disabilities Act, Northeast State honors requests for reasonable accommodations made by individuals with disabilities. Direct requests can be made at least 10 days in advance to (voice and TTY) 423.279.7640.
Get tickets now at https://northeaststate.vbotickets.com/events. For more information please contact the Box Office at 423.354.5169.
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