The Wisconsin troupe's new artistic director, Richard Corley, directs at the Isthmus Playhouse in the Madison Civic Center. According to production notes, "In Ruhl's contemporary retelling of the ancient story, the ardent young lovers Eurydice and Orpheus wed in the morning, and separate forever by dusk; until Orpheus seduces the guardians of the Underworld in hopes of bringing his bride back to the land of the living. Ruhl explores the tumultuous feelings of a young woman for her husband, her father, and one very interesting stranger, lending eloquence to questions of love and loss that punctuate the landscape of the human heart."

Ruhl's plays include The Clean House, Melancholy Play, Late, Passion Play and Orlando. The Chicago native earned and MFA from Brown University.

The cast includes Laura Heisler as Eurydice, John Lenartz as Eurydice's Father, David Andrew McMahon as Orpheus, Scott Morton as Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld, Diane Dorsey as Grandmother/Old Woman, with Polly Noonan, Karlie Nurse and Jody Reiss as Little Stone, Loud Stone and Big Stone, respectively.

Designers include Narelle Sissons (set), Darron L. West (sound), Rand Ryan (lighting) and Murell Horton (costumes).

A preview played Aug. 28. Performances continue to Sept. 21. For more information, call (608) 258-4141 or visit www.madisonrep.org.