Theater

Orpheus Descending

A rarely produced Tennessee Williams classic at Theatre/Theater

by Olga Belogolova   |   Jan 6, 2010

Orpheus Descending

 

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Independent filmmaker Lou Pepe will direct a six-week run of “Orpheus Descending,” a rarely produced Tennessee Williams classic at Theatre/Theater this winter. Running from January 15 to February 21, 2010, the play includes a cast of Gale Harold (Queer as Folk), Denise Crosby (Star Trek TNG), and cover girl-turned-actress Claudia Mason (Vogue, Elle, W, Cosmopolitan). The play’s ensemble also includes stage and screen veterans Robert E. Beckwith, Curtis C., Francesca Casale, John Gleeson Connolly, Kelly Ebsary, Andy Forrest, Sheila Shaw and Geoffrey Wade.

The play itself is Tennessee Williams’ modern version of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is set in the American south, where guitar musician Val Xavier arrives in a small town looking for work and hoping to change his life and renounce his wild past. He meets Lady Torrance, who longs to escape her tragic past and be reborn in her own way. The play follows their stories, as it explores the power of passion, art and imagination to return value and meaning to life.

Lou Pepe, the director, feels a personal connection to Williams’ play, as an artist and descendant of Italian immigrants. “I’ve always been interested in work that addresses the creative process and the struggle of the artist,” says Pepe, who is best known for documentary films such as in La Mancha, The Hamster Factor, and Malkovich’s Mail.

Williams wrote about the play, when it debuted on Broadway in 1957, saying “it is a play about unanswered questions that haunt the hearts of people and the difference between continuing to ask them…and the acceptance of prescribed answers that are not answers at all.”

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 8 p; Sundays at 2 pm, January 15 through February 21.
General admission: $25. 

Theatre/Theater
5041 W Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90019

(two blocks west of La Brea, ample street parking available), 
For reservations and information, call (800) 838-3006 or go to  www.BrownPaperTickets.com/event/92508.