Those last plot points should not be a surprise. “Eurydice” is directly based on the Greek myth of the same name. What Ruhl adds is a sense of how a strong woman such as Eurydice would actually behave in these circumstances — not, the playwright concludes, like a damsel in distress. Ruhl also gives the story a dream-like setting in which it’s hard for characters to communicate with each other, or remember things, or want to.

Romantic love is just one form of affection explored on Eurydice’s journey. Much of the play concerns her reunion with her father, whom due to her underworldly disorientation she is unable to recognize.

The Yale Repertory Theatre did a major, influential production of “Eurydice” directed by Les Waters in 2006. Much was written about its scenic design, which was extraordinary — torrents of water drenching the stage, and a chorus of stones that looked like statues who’d gotten lazy. CT Rep hasn’t stinted on sets — Ruhl’s stage direction that “Inside the elevator, it is raining” is followed to the letter — but it’s nice to see a production where the visuals don’t overwhelm the dialogue.

To convince Eurydice that he is the Lord of the Underworld, a tricycle riding boy explains “I can do chin-ups inside your bones.” Some of the loveliest verbiage takes the form of correspondence between above-ground Orpheus and below-ground Eurydice. It culminates in her writing out sweet, loving instructions “To My Husband’s Next Wife.”

Such dreamy, disoriented, poetic language can take many forms. Director Helene Kvale (associate professor in residence at UConn’s Department of Dramatic Arts) and talented students from UConn’s BFA acting program err on the side of fresh-faced innocence, which too often can telegraph as ditziness or silliness. But the gravity of the play still comes across.

Elizabeth Jensen smiles serenely as Eurydice, Zack Dictakis creates an Orpheus that is both self-sacrificing and self-centered, Kent Coleman maintains a leisurely, mature Father, and Coleman Churchill looks white and wan as Nasty Interesting Man/Lord of the Underworld. (Churchill looks like he could be auditioning for the band My Chemical Romance circa 2002). The chorus of Stones — who “live with the dead people in the land of the dead” — are Vivienne James, Kristen Wolfe and Jennifer Sapozhnikov, all lively and dressed in white girly dresses.

This is a fine chance to rediscover this lyrical drama of love and loss, presented with the youthfulness it demands.

Director Helene Kvale is to be commended for taking on a difficult script that is alternative, oppositional and outside the mainstream. I look forward to seeing more of her productions in the future. American theatre needs more work that is willing to be complex and abstract.

There are places in the dialog where Ruhl’s naturalistic speech changes rather abruptly to a more poetic and contextual language. The meaning is not literal, not in the dictionary definition of the words, but is meant to be palpable in its manifestation as speech on the body of the performers.

One might have wished to see a bigger change in the style of acting to accompany those shifts in dialogic style; say from a more representational to a more presentational mode.

As Eurydice, Sarah Elizabeth Jensen has a warm and calming stage presence that makes it difficult to take our eyes off her. She is articulate and clear in her interpretation.

Kent Coleman, who plays her father cuts a sharp figure on stage. He has a face that comes across the footlights and that Sarah Jensen as Eurydice in “Eurydice” by Sarah Ruhl Photo: Gerry Goldstein a film camera would love. He plays every line and every transition with galvanizing perfection. Coleman has a jaw like a young James Joyce; he should put together a one-man show of excerpts from Joyce’s poetry, stories, novels, and the play “Exiles.”

On Thursday, Zack Dictakis got stronger as the evening went on. His newly-wed joy turns into a serious understanding of longing, and hope against despair, as his character descends to Hades to attempt to rescue his wife.

Coleman Churchill cuts a sharp figure as both the Nasty Interesting Man and as the Lord of the Underworld.

The chorus of Vivienne James, Kristen Wolfe, and Jennifer Sapozhnikov are just about perfect in both their pitch and timing.

The production team creates an environment that is perfect for the piece and is an important part to the experience.

Lighting designer Danielle Verkennes uses many different instruments and techniques, but does not overuse any of them. The fog machine is just enough to lend mystery to the lighting. And the one or two times when the lighting is very powerful are times when it makes perfect sense within the meaning of the play and tempo of this particular production. Near the end of the evening a powerful HMI light shines through holes in the set to send beams of light across the stage and into the audience. This lighting design shines.

The set, by Katherine Paik, is both spare and ever-changing. A series of lines coming down from above create a changing mood according to what light is cast upon them. A very important part of this play is the elevator with a rainstorm inside it. The rainstorm-elevator is both well designed and well executed…and very wet.

Costume Designer, Jelena Antanasijevic, brings color and excitement to the play with a range of textures and styles that are drawn from several epochs and places, but blend together to create an integrated whole.

Pornchanok Kanchanabanca delivers a sound bed that serves the production without overpowering it. Nok’s work is both understated and effective.

The management team of Artistic Director, Michael Bradford, and Managing Director, Matthew J. Pugliese, present a smooth theatre organization that is not afraid to take a chance on producing important, meaningful work.

Over the centuries the myth has taken on many forms and adaptations, Ruhl’s play among them. In this play Orpheus (Zack Dictakis) and Eurydice (Sarah Elizabeth Jensen) are in the throes of young love which subsequently leads to an engagement and a wedding. On her wedding night Eurydice dies and the tragic story begins to take shape.

Dramaturg Emma Mathieu says, “The tale of Orpheus and Eurydice raises questions about what we will do for love and how far we are willing to go for it.”

What is impressive about the production is the way that all of the technical and performative elements blend together to present love and grief as living and breathing forces of nature on the stage. Orpheus hears music in everything. It is an all-encompassing experience for the musician, who hears music in name of his love, to the sound of a creaky well pump, a quality that makes him the legend he is in mythology.

Director Helene Kvale, assistant professor of performance and founding artistic director of Bated Breath Theatre Company says, “If Eurydice is water, Orpheus is air”

In this respect, one does not need knowledge of the myth itself to reflect and receive the story on stage.

“In the myth, there is no father character, but in her play, we see the addition of Eurydice’s father. This unique add creates a new level of emotional attachment since it is one more choice Eurydice has to make, but also since Ruhl had just lost her father before writing the play,” said sixth semester theatre studies major, Jason Swift.

All in all the actors and creatives of CRT’s “Eurydice” brought to the stage a production that did well to preserve and enshrine the enormity of the mythology while also presenting the human narrative of Ruhl’s characters that anyone who has experienced loss can relate to.