Playwright Caridad Svich wrote “The Orphan Sea” specifically for MU’s theatre program.

Svich is a well known playwright who won an OBIE Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. Her work was first introduced in assistant professor of theatre Kevin Brown’s, Theory and Criticism class last year. Svich Skyped into the class and from there the play took off.

“I just started picking her brain to see whether she’d be interested in coming here to write a new play for us,” Brown said.

Brown, the director of “The Orphan Sea,” wanted a play that was about classical mythology. He was interested in how Svich incorporates technology into her plays, and he wanted to find a way to use digital technology as well.

In 2012, Brown produced “Hamlet” at MU and had used a projection to display Hamlet’s father. Brown said, comparatively, there’s “a hundred times more” technology in “The Orphan Sea,” including multiple screens and projectors.

“The Orphan Sea” is in part inspired by Homer’s “The Odyssey” and includes the poem’s key characters, such as Penelope and Odysseus. The show revolves around three sets of choruses: Odysseus, Penelope, and the chorus of the city.

“It’s very much kind of inspired by the story of Penelope, who waited for decades for Odysseus to come home, first from the Trojan War and then from his adventures that are depicted in the Odyssey,” Brown said. “So that way, it kind of tells the other side of the story.”

Sophomore Michael Bayler is one of the three actors who plays Odysseus.

“It ties in all sorts of issues of the day and they’re all kind of hidden in there,” Bayler said.

Svich flew to Columbia in September to work with the cast. The cast spent an intensive week of participating in workshops, with Svich offering her input.

“I think some directors might be intimidated by having the playwright in the room, but I really appreciated it, especially with someone as much experience as Caridad,” Brown said. “I really found myself trusting her.”

Svich wrote the play in poetry form, but junior Courtney Wagner, one of the three actresses who plays Penelope, said that the lines were not too difficult to memorize.

“It was not something I had ever done before, but it came really naturally,” Wagner said.

Brown said Svich’s inspiration for writing about classical themes comes for wanting to write Greek tragedies from the woman’s side, not just the man’s side.

“The Orphan Sea” premieres Wednesday at the Rhynsburger Theatre and runs until Nov. 16.

“It’s been a really positive experience for not only our students, but for me as well,” Brown said.