It's a big deal to have a guest scenic designer. Tell us about it.

It's not unusual for the FCC Theatre department to use guest artists. In the past we've contracted with guest directors, actors and musicians and, quite simply, felt it was time to bring in a guest scene designer. It's a wonderful way to introduce students to working professionals and different approaches and points of view. The key is to find the right designer for the right show. Eurydice might be the most complex production we've tackled in years, requiring a surrealist set, video projections, water effects and intricate lighting. We needed a scene designer who would bring a skill set and vision to match the demands of the play and also enhance the design work done at FCC Theatre. We needed to bring a designer in who would offer something different and yet compliment what we do. Matt Scarpino, a working designer from the L.A. area was contracted for Eurydice and we couldn't be happier with the results. We're also using an original musical score by Nick Campbell and the Bluefields. So, in a sense we have two guest artists working on this production.

While there's no direct correlation between the Sept. 11 attacks and this play, I know that "eurydice" took on a lot of symbolic meaning after that tragic event. Why?

It is true that when the play premiered in New York a few years after 9/11 it became a bit of a phenomenon. The city was still grieving and the play touched a cord because it deals with loss and how we remember the dead. There is something deeply rooted in the play that allows people to connect it to their own lives--certainly to their emotional lives. It was cathartic to see the show in New York at that time and it still resonates, although the play has nothing to do with the tragic events surrounding 9/11. I think it's a testament to the play's power that audiences made that inference.

Some people turn up their noses at ancient myths because they think they're old and stuffy. Your response?

There is a reason that certain myths are still with us. How many movies have you watched that when you boil it down to its essence is really an "old and ancient myth?" (You just didn't know it because you were too busy being entertained.) Myths are like our collective DNA, and the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is no exception. Myths speak to us on simple and profound levels. Besides being a simple story myths often reveal a deep-set psychological underpinning that inform us about being human. Again there is a reason the audiences responded so viscerally to the play when it premiered in New York. They connected to story but what really moved them were the mythical underpinnings of the story. In the case of Sarah Ruhl's, Eurydice it is anything but stuffy and "ancient." It's a very contemporary take on the myth (And you, by no means, have to know mythology to get that play). In Ruhl's version, the character of Orpheus is a famous singer-songwriter and the play has more in common with Alice in Wonderland than Greek tragedy. There is something for everyone in the play ... including a myth.

Talk a little about your cast for the show.

We have a wonderful cast of students (and one community actor) for Eurydice. The cast is exceptionally strong and inventive and it's been an absolute joy watching them grow. Some cast members will be immediately recognizable from past shows at FCC and others will be new faces.

I'm fascinated by the whole "looking back" aspect of the "eurydice" tale, which seems to be mirrored in other contexts (such as the Biblical story of Lot's wife). Your thoughts?

I'm also fascinated by the "looking back" moment. There is something so powerful about how one iconic gesture, one decision; one instinctive moment can affect lives. The difficulty of not looking back, of moving forward in the face grief, of leaving well enough alone is a difficult dilemma. So many cultures have stories with the same sort of dilemma and the same tragic outcome as in Orpheus and Eurydice. It's striking and again...speaks to the universal. In the Greek myth it's never explained why Orpheus looks back at Eurydice while he leads her from the underworld to the world of the living but in Ruhl's version, the reason is revealed.

Is it harder to direct a purely naturalistic play, which this production most certainly is not, or one like "eurydice," which the New York Times described as having the "cockeyed allure of a surrealist painting"?

The play is not purely naturalistic in tone and style but the characters are true and all too human. It is still a story with recognizable human behavior and failings. There are elements that are more theatrical and surreal and there certainly are some wild and unexpected characters but Ruhl's world. But it is concrete enough that actors are able to flesh out real people with real problems. The characters needs are simple and accessible. It's the surreal world that surrounds them that is different. What becomes more challenging (and more fun) is in the staging. The play is more theatrical and not something you might see on TV or in movies and that is freeing and often much more beautiful.

Any other thoughts on the production?

Eurydice has so much to offer in its short 90 minute running time and I am confident that it will speak to so many people. It is often funny and ultimately moving.