PLAYWRIGHT
RICHARD GREMEL
"Richard Gremel is turning out to be a prolific playwright for children's theater"
-Kathleen Allen, Arizona Daily Star.
-Kathleen Allen, Arizona Daily Star.
Richard Gremel with the cast of his play, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Pictured: Richard Gremel (Writer), Cindi LaFrese (Dorthy), Stephen Frankenfield (Scarecrow), Michael Martinez (Tin Man), Leslie Miller (Co-Writer/Director) Amanda Gremel (Cowardly Lion)
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BIO
Richard Gremel resides in Tucson, Arizona where he lives with his wife and two kids. He earned his B.F.A in Theatre Education from the University of Arizona in 2008. Currently, he is the Theatre Arts Director at Empire High School, teaching acting and technical theatre. Richard was one of nine finalists in the 2015-2016, Circle K/University of Arizona Outstanding High School Faculty Awards Program. Richard was also featured as an Arts Hero for ONMedia in 2018-2019. His theatre program, at Empire High School, is well-known throughout the State and has received many awards including Best musical of Tucson for the National High School Musical Theatre Awards: Tucson Monte Awards (2014, 2022), the Chapter Select One-Act in 2013-2014 and again in 2022-2023. Empire also won the State One-Act Championship in 2015, where his students performed one of his original plays. In 2017 and 2019, his theatre department was named the #1 high school theatre program in Southern Arizona. Richard also works at several local theatre companies as an actor, director, scenic and lighting designer, and playwright. As a playwright, Richard has written a number of plays for Live Theatre Workshop's: Family Theatre (A series that presents original plays and musicals for families.) He has also written a variety of full length plays designed to be acted and presented for middle/high school students. The mission of his writing is to create works, which allow students to develop large characters with clear objectives and to provide entertainment for the audience. He currently has a number of plays which have been performed for local audiences, as well as, ten published plays that have been seen across the US, Canada, India, Hong Kong, England, and Australia. |
Featured Play
ORPHEUS: A Love's Refrain
The classic tale of mythological lovers, Orpheus and Eurydice, gets a re-imagination while focusing on the themes of love and music. Is love strong enough to overcome fate? How does music and melody shape the world around us? Written to reflect the style of classic greek theatre, The play tells of the young lovers who meet and instantly fall in love. With hesitation from the Apollo, god of the sun and father to young Orpheus, the two are forced to marry in secret. After their marriage, they discover that their bond is cursed by the fates, and decide they will make the most of their time together.
But when Eurydice is taken from this earth, Orpheus cannot go on living without her. So, he travels to the underworld to bring her back. With the help of Persephone, he convinces Hades to offer him a chance to bring Eurydice back to the living world. The catch is that he must guide her out of the underworld without turning back to see that she is following. Just as he is about to leave, he turns back to check that she is behind and she is cast to the underworld forever.
This play was originally performed at Empire High School in September 2022. For more information on how you can produce this play, please contact Richard Gremel.
The classic tale of mythological lovers, Orpheus and Eurydice, gets a re-imagination while focusing on the themes of love and music. Is love strong enough to overcome fate? How does music and melody shape the world around us? Written to reflect the style of classic greek theatre, The play tells of the young lovers who meet and instantly fall in love. With hesitation from the Apollo, god of the sun and father to young Orpheus, the two are forced to marry in secret. After their marriage, they discover that their bond is cursed by the fates, and decide they will make the most of their time together.
But when Eurydice is taken from this earth, Orpheus cannot go on living without her. So, he travels to the underworld to bring her back. With the help of Persephone, he convinces Hades to offer him a chance to bring Eurydice back to the living world. The catch is that he must guide her out of the underworld without turning back to see that she is following. Just as he is about to leave, he turns back to check that she is behind and she is cast to the underworld forever.
This play was originally performed at Empire High School in September 2022. For more information on how you can produce this play, please contact Richard Gremel.
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