As a student in the Honors program at Syracuse, I had to complete a thesis project on a topic of my choosing within my area of study. I decided to produce and direct a fully-staged production of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, which is one of my favorite plays. Over the course of the summer, I prepared for this project by completing extensive research, assembling a creative team, and working out the production details.

I cast 8 of my peers in the production after holding auditions and then had a five week rehearsal process to bring my vision to life. I focused on three guiding questions to shape my interpretation of the script as well as the paper I wrote about my process: How can abstract images and language be interpreted into a concrete theme and story that an audience can receive? How can the impossible be portrayed onstage in a way that evokes the most emotional response in an audience? What is the value of changing classic stories in a text to make their themes more apparent to viewers?

For Eurydice, I focused on the themes of love, loss, and memory that are prevalent in Ruhl’s storytelling. I conducted visual research along with my design collaborators and eventually settled on a tonal and atmospheric sense for the production. I wanted it to feel dream-like, nostalgic, and divided, and I achieved these feelings through design, staging, and conversations I had with my cast. I worked through the script and developed creative solutions for Ruhl’s challenging stage directions and the images that they demand.

The final production had two incredibly successful performances, and I received the Josephine Abady Prize for Directing as well as an honorable mention for Best Creative Thesis from the Department of Drama and the Renée Crown University Honors Program, respectively.