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“Hadestown: Teen Edition” will bring Greek mythology, live music and a message of resilience to the stage across six performances from April 25 through May 3.
The dramatic musical intertwines the story of young lovers Orpheus and Eurydice with the troubled marriage of Hades, king of the underworld, and Persephone. Director Chris Whitney said the production explores community, human connection and the determination to keep trying when the world appears hopeless.
Whitney called the story especially relevant today, pointing to “Why We Build the Wall,” a song about divisions between people with power and those without it.
Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, April 25; 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, April 26; 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, May 1-2; and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, May 3. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $12 for students and senior citizens. They will be available at the door and through fxplayers.org.
A Myth Recast in the Dust Bowl
The approximately 80-member cast and crew will transport the story to 1930s New Orleans during the Dust Bowl. The set evokes the French Quarter through balconies and bars while creating the atmosphere of a speakeasy. A rotating turntable will carry actors as they dance.
A live orchestra will share the stage with the performers. Costumes will distinguish the two worlds: Hadestown’s workers will resemble coal miners, while the people aboveground will wear the jackets and flannel of farmhands.
In the musical, the seasons have been reduced to summer and winter. Persephone brings intense heat when she is aboveground, but her repeated late returns from Hades leave the world bitterly cold.
Orpheus believes he can restore spring and fall by writing a song that repairs the strained relationship between Hades and Persephone. While he concentrates on that task, a starving Eurydice accepts Hades’s offer and enters the underworld. Once she realizes what the bargain means, Orpheus must journey to Hadestown to rescue her.
Whitney described the production as emotionally and mentally demanding for its singers, dancers and actors, but said working with the young performers has also been therapeutic. He expects audiences to be impressed by their voices, the student-created choreography and the production’s overall talent.
The musical announces its central idea early: Although the story is sad, it must be sung again. For Whitney, that reflects the show’s insistence that people continue striving for change even after failure.
Opposites Drawn Together
Junior Tristan Farmer plays Orpheus as an orphaned poet whose optimism borders on naïveté. Farmer said his character sees the world as it ought to be, romanticizes life and initially approaches everything with a glass-half-full outlook.
That confidence is tested as Orpheus confronts the world’s cruelty. He carries the burden of writing a song that could determine its fate while traveling into hell to save Eurydice, whose hunger he failed to notice while absorbed in his work.
Farmer’s favorite number, “If It’s True,” arrives at Orpheus’s breaking point, when he believes he has lost everything. He said the politically relevant song remains uplifting because it suggests people can repair the world by coming together.
Senior Kathryn Whitis portrays Eurydice, who has survived on her own and expects the world to remain harsh. Unlike the hopeful Orpheus, she is wary of others and assumes little will change, especially as the fates continually undermine her plans.
Whitis said the darker, more wounded character gives her an opportunity to explore emotional depth in a leading role during her senior year.
Her favorite song is “Promises,” a duet with Farmer accompanied by the workers. Orpheus admits he cannot promise Eurydice a ring or pleasant weather, but vows to support her. The song also offers the workers hope that they may finally escape Hadestown.
Whitis said the contrast between Eurydice’s and Orpheus’s worldviews gives the music much of its impact. Despite everything confronting them, the story continues to hold out hope for a better world.
Movement Separates Two Worlds
Junior Nate Smith plays Hermes, the messenger god who participates in and narrates the story. Hermes serves as Orpheus’s mentor and a father figure, helping him navigate love while guiding audiences toward the musical’s deeper meaning.
Smith presents Hermes as younger and more playful while preserving the character’s wisdom and devotion to the tale. His dancing background also allows him to join several production numbers.
As one of the show’s choreographers, alongside Naomi Bautista and Libby Hansen, Smith helped create movement for more than 13 songs. The choreography emphasizes the divide between the two settings. In Hadestown, performers use sharp angles and physically taxing motions; aboveground, their movement becomes relaxed, flowing and free.
Smith concentrated particularly on the three fates, whose faster movement draws inspiration from samba and salsa. His favorite number is “When the Chips Are Down,” which he choreographed independently and which features the fates dancing as they tell their part of the story.
Power and Love Collide Underground
Junior Nikolai Crowl portrays Hades as both an industrialist and the powerful ruler of the underworld. Hades pursues what he wants regardless of the consequences and exerts control over people against their will.
Yet his actions are also tied to his deteriorating relationship with Persephone. He believes he has sacrificed everything to provide for his wife, while she rejects the lengths to which he has gone. Crowl said the characters still love each other even though they have drifted apart.
Crowl acknowledged that entering Hades’s mindset can be difficult because the character’s methods conflict with his own values. Still, he called the role a valuable experience.
His favorite song, “Wait for Me,” accompanies Orpheus’s descent among the workers. Guided by Hermes, Orpheus sings a plea to Eurydice that he is coming to find her, opening the walls of Hadestown along the way.
Crowl said the cast’s energy gives the production an authentic, grounded quality. Even amid its heartbreak, he believes its many joyful moments will leave audiences smiling.