Art, theatre come together to present ‘Ekphrasis’ at SAMA-Loretto
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The Saint Francis Center for Fine Arts is collaborating with the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Loretto to present the play "Ekphrasis," at the museum, 112 Franciscan Way at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16-18 and 2 p.m. Nov. 19.
The play is an adaptation of the myth of Persephone, inspired by the art collection "Return to Eden," by Cara Livorio and Sarah Ruhl's play "Eurydice."
"Ekphrasis," was written by SFU alumni Scott Riner and directed by Lance Mekeel, assistant professor of Theatre at SFU.
The cast includes: Elizabeth Fromm as First Bluebird; Brenna Kern as Second Bluebird; Drew Sill as Third Bluebird; Miranda Weiland as Kora; John Paul Caroff as Hades; Erin Pyle as Demeter; Kevin Waite as Zeus, and as Gardeners: Tessa Paluzzi, Erin Golding, Logan Kearns, Abrielle Brown, Lydia Anderson, Madi Runk, Kylie Innes. The crew/creative team is composed of Delaney Urban, Olivia Rowan, Mary Bukowski, Theresa Martz, Anna Phelan, John Improta, Avery Lucas, Kelina Ellis-King, Riti Bhatnagar, Bailey McDougall.
Commissioned specifically to be performed in the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art during its "Return to Eden" exhibition, Mekeel said he originally planned on producing Ruhl's play and wanted a complementary one-act to present with it.
"When I read Scott's first draft, I knew that his play had to be the focus of the process, because it was written directly inspired by Livorio's work," Mekeel said. "Scott and I worked through the summer to develop it into a full-length play and then worked with the cast in September to further hone the text to fit with the circumstances of the presentation, a workshop presentation providing a peek behind the scenes of how plays get developed."
Livorio's paintings, Riner said, are ripe with flowers and people hidden among them, as though the paintings themselves were beckoning me to write this adaptation."
In this adaptation, Hades is an uninspired artist in the "below" until he becomes aware of Kora (Persephone) and her relationship with flowers and life in the "above." Hades makes Kora his muse and he soon becomes full of life and fills the "below" with beautiful floral paintings. Deceived by Hades's brother, Zeus, Kora finds her way to "below," where Hades names her Persephone and asks her to stay with him. Kora feels the pull of "above," especially the warmth of the sun and her mother's (Demeter's) love.
According to Mekeel, the play asks us to consider how we love: ourselves, and others, in various contexts. And, also asks us to consider how we remember other parts and times of our life and memory itself. Staged in the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art on Saint Francis's campus, the play invites the audience to experience the telling of this story as if it is a play spontaneously inspired by the art that surrounds the players and audience.
A special fundraising event is planned for 6:30 p.m. Nov. 16 and benefits the Center for Fine Arts and the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. The tickets are $50 and include heavy appetizers and wine served at 6:30 while Livorio, a Pittsburgh-based artist, will give a talk about her work on exhibit. The production will run at 7:30 and following it will be a talkback between the audience and the cast, crew, playwright, director, and artist.
SAMA has hosted small scale plays performed in the gallery, Mekeel said.
"The gallery space provides wonderful opportunities for actor/audience relationship building, and this will be a great preview of some of the kind of work that audiences can expect when the brand new Connors Family Fine Arts Center featuring the Resinski Blackbox Theatre opens in 2024," he said.
"I am very excited for audiences to see this show," Riner said. "The play that they will see is far from the one I originally conceived in April, as I am a notorious rewriter. But I have no doubt that their breath will be taken away as they see Lance's staging, done among some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen."
Livorio's abstract landscapes will be exhibited at the gallery through Dec. 23. The exhibit is a "mesmerizing collection of immersive gardens, each intricately interwoven with the fragments of human existence," according to museum officials, and features "the profound interplay between nature's ceaseless cycles and humanity's enduring imprint. The gardens featured in the series are teeming with remnants of human presence, speaking to the harmonious dance of life and death that characterizes the seasons of growth, decline, and rebirth."
The exhibition is sponsored by Benzel's Bretzel Bakery.
Mirror Staff Writer Patt Keith is at 814-949-7030.