For a theater buff such as myself, last weekend proved to be a feeding frenzy of great plays. On Friday, I was lucky enough to catch Eurydice at the CFA Theater. A magical-realist retelling of a Greek and Roman myth about love lost, then regained, then lost again, the play was written by Jean Anouilh, a French playwright who rewrote ancient stories to avoid the censorship of the occupying Nazi army. Building on the timeless themes of love and death, the Wesleyan Theater Department production managed to inject the same vital energy into the ancient story that Anouilh did when he wrote the piece.

Eurydice was a compelling piece of theater because its actors fearlessly took to their roles. Since Anouilh’s Orpheus and Eurydice, played by Zach LeClair and Annie Paladino respectively, declare their eternal love for each other fifteen minutes after they first lock eyes, the show had the potential to become overwrought and melodramatic. However, Paladino and LeClair managed to convey the mad romance. The duo had empathy for their characters, which strengthened the honest portrayal of the couple’s high-stakes affair. The rest of the cast was equally strong, including Chris Correa as Orpheus’s father, Ben Smolen and Dakota Gardner as Eurydice’s former lovers, and Emma Sherr-Ziarko as Eurydice’s spoiled mother.

Also of note was Carmen Melillo as Monsieur Henri, a representative of Death herself. While this archetypal character provides a challenge to any actor trying to reinvent the role, Melillo played the part as a coolly reasoning salesman. His attempts to woo Orpheus over to the world of the dead were disturbing, not because of horror-movie theatrics, but because Henri offers up death as a solution, not a punishment. Monsieur Henri’s compassion, not his cunning, makes him frightening. He was an antagonist, yet not a villain––an interesting and effective choice.

Eurydice asks many questions. What is more important in a relationship: honesty, or tenderness? How bad is death, really? Is it better than life? Is love more important than truth? These questions have no easy answers, and the show wisely chose not to force answers upon the audience.

On Saturday, I saw another ambitious production, Sam Ottinger’s rock opera Black Friday, which had been thrilling sold-out audiences all weekend at the ’92 Theater. Directed by Ross Shenker and featuring a versatile live band, the show’s energy and creativity made the piece into just the hit it was anticipated to be. Set in a dystopian future where shopping malls and megachurches are one in the same, the opera made good on its intriguing premise with an excellent score and a host of energetic performances.

Ottinger’s music combined Black Sabbath-style hard rock, expressionistic cabaret tunes, pop, and even a New Orleans-style jazz finale. While the music shifted from Kurt Weill-like ballads to ambient drones to heavy metal blast-beats, the mix of genres never felt like a gimmick. Disco-beats accompanied the entrance of a group of “Ohmygod”-exclaiming shop-addict girls, while primal rock underscored Jake Hunt’s sermon as a fire-and-brimstone preacher. Ottinger’s score balanced storytelling, emotion, and hooks––the music told stories, but scored high on the “fun” scale as well. Which, sometimes, can be music’s most important test.

In the midst of the inspired mall set and creative costuming choices, the actors attacked their parts with aplomb. Samantha Pearlman’s choreography was expressive and often hilarious––a dance ending in mock-fellatio was one of the most ingeniously indecent pieces of theater I’ve seen in a long time. The cast worked as a true ensemble, telling a cautionary tale about what America’s true religion will be if we continue to put the material ahead of the spiritual.

I can see Black Friday following In the Heights to success in New York. If Ottinger and Shenker choose to stick with this piece and develop it over the next few years, it may be rewarded with a nice run in Manhattan. Last weekend was an example of how Wesleyan’s students can both invent and reinvent theater in exciting and entertaining ways.