Commission
Riverrun Theatre
2005
The Rough Guide to the Underworld
Development History
- ,,
Production History
- ,Professional,Riverrun Theatre, Washington D.C.2009
- ,Professional,Riverrun Theatre, Madison IN2006
The Rough Guide to the Underworld by
What to do when you're going to hell...
What do Mark Twain, Medea, Ken Burns, Guy Fieri, and Dante Aligheri–no relation–have to do with one another? They’re just some of the characters showing us around the classical Underworld. Life and death, love and loss, union and reunion, anything can happen in this divine comedy.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE UNDERWORLD is a tour guide around...
What do Mark Twain, Medea, Ken Burns, Guy Fieri, and Dante Aligheri–no relation–have to do with one another? They’re just some of the characters showing us around the classical Underworld. Life and death, love and loss, union and reunion, anything can happen in this divine comedy.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE UNDERWORLD is a tour guide around...
What to do when you're going to hell...
What do Mark Twain, Medea, Ken Burns, Guy Fieri, and Dante Aligheri–no relation–have to do with one another? They’re just some of the characters showing us around the classical Underworld. Life and death, love and loss, union and reunion, anything can happen in this divine comedy.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE UNDERWORLD is a tour guide around the rivers of the classical underworld, following several different stories of people trying to connect with one another, whether as lovers, as family or even as professionals. Some of the stories include:
— Clara Clemens searching for her father, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain
— portions of a Ken Burns documentary following a historic expedition to explore the Underworld
— a writer named Dante pitching a movie producer on a film about a poet in Hell…
— a troubadour with memory problems, and the woman who loves him…who’s always loved him…
— a father and son team of explorers plumbing the depths of woe in the waters of the Underworld
In the midst of all this, the play also features movie trailers, vacation advertisements, tour guides, mythology, music, a little commedia dell'arte, and more.
There are two samples of the original song at the end of the play, one a demo and one from the first production of the show.
What do Mark Twain, Medea, Ken Burns, Guy Fieri, and Dante Aligheri–no relation–have to do with one another? They’re just some of the characters showing us around the classical Underworld. Life and death, love and loss, union and reunion, anything can happen in this divine comedy.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO THE UNDERWORLD is a tour guide around the rivers of the classical underworld, following several different stories of people trying to connect with one another, whether as lovers, as family or even as professionals. Some of the stories include:
— Clara Clemens searching for her father, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain
— portions of a Ken Burns documentary following a historic expedition to explore the Underworld
— a writer named Dante pitching a movie producer on a film about a poet in Hell…
— a troubadour with memory problems, and the woman who loves him…who’s always loved him…
— a father and son team of explorers plumbing the depths of woe in the waters of the Underworld
In the midst of all this, the play also features movie trailers, vacation advertisements, tour guides, mythology, music, a little commedia dell'arte, and more.
There are two samples of the original song at the end of the play, one a demo and one from the first production of the show.