![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Orpheus-by-Dan.jpg\" "\\"Orpheus")
<\/a>Orpheus (Jeffrey Burden II) mourns his dead lover, Eurydice (Keely-Rain Battle) and makes an impossible deal with Death to bring her back to life.<\/p><\/div>When The University of Toledo Department of Theatre and Film presents the opening night of Jean Cocteau\u2019s darkly comic play \u201cOrpheus\u201d Friday, Oct. 12, it will do so in surprisingly brilliant color. <\/P><\/p>\n
Director Jessica Bonenfant and costume designer Erica Frank have chosen to use a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) aesthetic to represent the incursion of the dead into the world of the living.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrpheus\u201d is Cocteau\u2019s surrealist reworking of the classical myth. Orpheus, a poet, makes an impossible deal with Death to rescue his love, Eurydice, from the underworld: He promises never to look upon her again. A mirror serves as a portal between life and death, and movement between the realms is represented by shifts in color, costume and atmosphere. Cocteau also explores contact with the spirit world by adding a table-rapping horse to the mix. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe play takes place in the liminal space between magic and reality, where anything can happen,\u201d said Bonenfant, creative director of Lola Lola Dance Theatre in New York, who is the guest director for the UT production of \u201cOrpheus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Bonenfant and Frank were intrigued by Mexican painter Frida Kahlo de Rivera, known for her self-portraits and her colorful clothing. Her style as well as traditional Day-of-the-Dead celebrations have served as a kind of muse for the costume design. Flowers, elaborate grave decorations, lavish costumes, food and festivities traditionally mark the Mexican Day of the Dead, similar to All Souls Day, meant to honor loved ones who died during the year.<\/p>\n
In the play, Death \u2014 a young woman adorned with pink flowers, ribbons and paint \u2014 visits the living world. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe costuming, skeletons and funeral flowers associated with Day of the Dead are the perfect way for her to fit into and hide out in our world while also being very ethereal,\u201d said Frank, a costume designer of theater, film, TV and videos.<\/p>\n
Bonenfant added that Frank\u2019s design reflects the fact that \u201cCocteau\u2019s work uses surrealism to alter the audience’s perceptions of time and reality, yet maintains a narrative that is easy to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n