Abstract
As part of a Christian institution, the Northwestern College Theatre Department values the integration of faith with artistry. We believe that all truth is God’s truth and seek to produce work that glorifies Him and points others to His truth, even if that work would not be deemed distinctly “Christian.” For our audiences, however, connecting their Christian faith to the stories they saw onstage is not always an easy feat. As the production dramaturg (literary advisor and researcher) for this spring’s production of Eurydice, one of my main goals was to assist in this task. While Eurydice is inspired by a deeply old myth from the Greco-Roman tradition, many of its themes are incredibly similar to ideas upheld in the Christian tradition. This presentation outlines these connections by first explaining the mythos surrounding the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, then discussing Biblical parallels to this myth in the tale of the death of Lot’s wife and the harrowing of hell theology, before finally comparing and contrasting the Christian, Jewish, and Greek understandings of life after death.
Included in
Eurydice Dramaturgy: Relating Myth to Christian Audiences
As part of a Christian institution, the Northwestern College Theatre Department values the integration of faith with artistry. We believe that all truth is God’s truth and seek to produce work that glorifies Him and points others to His truth, even if that work would not be deemed distinctly “Christian.” For our audiences, however, connecting their Christian faith to the stories they saw onstage is not always an easy feat. As the production dramaturg (literary advisor and researcher) for this spring’s production of Eurydice, one of my main goals was to assist in this task. While Eurydice is inspired by a deeply old myth from the Greco-Roman tradition, many of its themes are incredibly similar to ideas upheld in the Christian tradition. This presentation outlines these connections by first explaining the mythos surrounding the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, then discussing Biblical parallels to this myth in the tale of the death of Lot’s wife and the harrowing of hell theology, before finally comparing and contrasting the Christian, Jewish, and Greek understandings of life after death.