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‘Eurydice’ Play Incorporating Digital Design

February 28, 2017 By Samantha Valdivia '19

Eurydice logo courtesy of South Coast Repertory.

On March 2, 2017 at 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm in Memorial Hall, Wish Theater, the Bowdoin Theater and Dance will open Eurydice, a contemporary, theatrical event that explores the power of love, loss and memory.

In this Greek myth Eurydice leaves her wedding with Orpheus for the underworld, searching for her father – but the reunion is costly. Trapped on the opposite side of death, Orpheus fights to retrieve his bride, making a deal that seals both their fates.

The incorporation of digital design began with determining what the play Eurydice needed to be projected, for example, an animated raining elevator. With subjects and scenes determined they were able to use Autodesk Maya, 3D computer graphics software, to incrementally build models needed for the play.

AutoDesk Maya Editing Environment

Professor Ryan MacDonald noted that “the most time consuming animations were the water simulations: River, Ocean, Rain, etc.” He built these animations using a plugin called Bifrost within Maya. From that point the works were put into After Effects, post- production application used for film- making, for fine tuning and exporting. Finally, Isadora, a graphic programming environment, was used to build a hierarchy between videos, which can be juxtaposed, moved specifically on the stage, and timed to the scenes.

Tickets are free. Advanced tickets can be reserved starting February 9, 2017 at Smith Union (207-725-3375) or at the door on the night of the performance. Limited Seating.

Filed Under: Digital and Computational Studies Initiative

Digital and Computational Studies Blog

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