“Eurydice” profile for director Kaily Anderson

Kaily Anderson Interview   
Listen to director Kaily Anderson talk about her production.

Meet Kaily

Kaily Anderson is a Senior Theater major at Colorado State University, and unlike most of her peers her focus is in directing.  As a senior thesis she has chosen to put on the play “Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl for the Fort Collins and CSU community. 

Anderson says that this is the longest play she has directed so far.  After graduation from CSU she would ultimately like to go to graduate school, but before then it is off to Chicago in hopes of being able to work with some small theater companies. 

Anderson has spent a long time working on the play, picking it in September. While “Eurydice” is a more modern play, Anderson didn’t feel pressured to perform something more well known. 

“What is wonderful about the CSU environment is that when it is an educational environment you can take more risks and do something different,” said Anderson.  “In these troubled economic times theater seems to be going to a safe place to simply get the attendance to plays.  What is unfortunate is some brilliant work gets ignored if people only worry about getting people in the door.”

Anderson said that the themes of the play really touched her on a personal level, since she is experiencing many of the same feelings the play touches on.  The play deals with love, as well as death, and growing up. 

“On a personal level, a lot of things just made sense because of where I am in my life,” Anderson said.  “It pushed everyone working on the show to explore these themes in an unconventional way.”

CSU students Megan Guidarelli playing Eurydice and Lucas Sweet playing Orpheus rehearse the first scene of the play "Eurydice"

The next step for Anderson was to choose her cast and crew for the play.  One of the members she approached for the role of stage manager, but for the cast she had an open cast call.  Anderson said she didn’t cast this play by who was good for the part, but rather for the ensemble, making sure the actors all worked well together, even if they were not on stage together.

“You only see Orpheus and Eurydice together for a little time, but they are the ones that drive us through the play.”

The workings of Eurydice

 Eurydice is a play based of the Greek myth about two lovers.  When Eurydice dies, her musically inclined husband goes into Hades, the Greek underworld, to retrieve her.  Although she is allowed to return with him, he cannot look back for her.  When he accidentally does, she is lost to him forever. 

 In this modern interpretation, Sarah Ruhl takes the myth and makes it her own, having the play take place in the 1950’s and focusing more on what life is like for Eurydice in the underworld.  Ruhl wrote the play after the death of her father, so unlike the original Greek myth, there is a father figure that Eurydice meets once entering Hades.

 “I really loved the play writing a lot,” Anderson said.  “Something about the play writing captivated me, and I could not figure out what.  It has poetic undertones that I think are just beautiful.” 

 The play is also strikingly modern in its form and style.  Short acts dominate the play, sometimes having scenes that last only a few lines.  Anderson explained that this is the expressionist style, a theater movement that explored raw thought on stage.

 “Ruhl twists this into something different and not presented before,” Anderson said.  The structure comes from Eurydice character’s journey through the piece.  We don’t see a fully realized character until the end.”

 The play also features a set bouncing between the 1950’s world and the underworld.  These two strikingly contradictory elements  were conceived by Ruhl, but perfected by Anderson for the set.

Anderson's set for her production of the play "Eurydice."

 “I think Ruhl chose the living world to be the 1950’s because it has such a clean feel,” Anderson said. “The underworld should contrast, and I thought something urban and modern and sinister would be a lovely contrast.  I wanted it to be industrial, something not seen above. I was trying to ying and yang the two places.”

 The stage manager’s perspective

 Another important figure within this production has been Judd Farner, a junior English and Theater major, and the stage manager for “Eurydice.”  Anderson described the role of stage manager as being in charge of the theater world.   Farner said that he was approached by Anderson to be the stage manager for this production.  Within a production, Farner explains that the stage manager cues the lights and sounds, while also keeping rehearsals on track. 

 “My job is to help facilitate the needs of the production,” said Farner. “It is my job to keep all lines of communication open between the actors, the production team, and the director. Basically, anyone involved in the project interacts with me.”

 “During the run of the show I ‘call’ the show. Every time there is a light cue or a sound cue, or whatever cue it is my responsibility. In this show we have around 160 cues.” 

 

Eurydice, Megan Guidarelli, sits with the Child, played by Allison Stafford, in a scene from "Eurydice."

 This means that the while the stage manager takes care of all the technical aspects, it is the director’s job to “facilitate the needs of the show” as Anderson put it.  She said she wanted to pick a designer who would bring something to the play. 

 “This is actually my first time stage managing a project,” Farner said. “It was a bit of a surprise having Kaily ask me to stage manage because I had never done it before.”

 Farner himself loves the play that Anderson has chosen.

 “Everyone who has worked on the project has found the scripts little nuances and quirks,” Farner said.  “It’s a really lovely adaptation of the Greek myth, and it’s a play that really speaks to the time we are in in our lives right now.  The play focuses on Eurydice and her choices along this journey.”

 Farner said that Anderson is a wonderful director. 

 “Kaily really focused on keying everyone into these themes and making sure we all recognized the similarities of growing up and learning,” Farner said. “She watches something she is working on with the biggest heart and the most passion.  Kaily’s other strong point is collaboration. Theatre is called the collaborative art and Kaily holds to this. She encourages as much input and direction from everyone, then she is able to filter and narrow it down. Now, if she wouldn’t be so modest.”

 And an actor’s perspective

 Kimberlee Singler is a junior theater major, and just one actor in the play. She plays one of the stones found in the underworld, a character she describes as a “silly strange character, one that is the comical relief that brings some energy in such a sad story.”  Three stones help narrate what is happening in the underworld once Eurydice gets there, as well as being able to recover letters Orpheus sends Eurydice.  Singler also explained they are the only characters that can see both the living world, and the dead world.  

 “Kaily’s been great, encouraging and helpful” Singler said about Anderson as a director.  “She has her own vision, but gives us the freedom to explore and create within our own characters.  She is very respectful, considerate, and together.”

Eurydice, Megan Guidarelli, listens to Orpheus, Lucas Sweet, play music for her on the beach

 “Kaily searches out and accepts as much information and suggestion as she can.” Farner said about Anderson as a director. “Then, with her concept firmly in her head, she is capable of molding that outside information into workable solutions for her piece.”

 Anderson herself said that the actors are the ones to mold the characters, and she only guides them as she sees fit. 

 “I really try to approach projects with a broad concept of what the character is,” Anderson said. “I am working with amazing artists, and confining them with a constricting vision is a huge mistake. If you do that you never know what you are missing.”

 Kaily is the director, and along with her team of students has produced a two and a half hour production.

 “The most important part of this whole project is that it is completely student run,” said Farner.  “Apart from faculty advice and help from the shop with the construction of our set, everything is done by students.”

 Anderson said she has learned a lot from directing this play.  She said that this was the longest play she has directed by far, and has enjoyed working with the student actors as well as her production crew. 

 “Sustaining a show and working with a production team is not something you get to do often,” Anderson said.

Two stones played by Kelly Oury and Kimberlee Singler welcome Eurydice to the underworld after her death.

 

 “These types of projects are essential to theatre students growth and development,” Farner said.  “It allows or forces us to think creatively and practically at the same time.”

“Eurydice” will be performed Friday March 27 through Sunday March 29 at 8 p.m.  Tickets are $7 for CSU students, and $16 for the public.