When the lights rise on Hadestown, the world the audience steps into is ancient and modern all at once, a place of railroads and underworlds, love songs and labor, cold kings and warm springs. At Oak Lawn Community High School, the cast of Hadestown has spent months breathing life into a story carved from Greek mythology, turning it into something young, urgent, and unmistakably their own.
At its heart, Hadestown retells the tragic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice: a musician who believes his song can change the world, and the woman who must choose between love and survival. Above them lurks the underworld, ruled by Hades and Persephone, and observed, not always kindly, by the three Fates.
This year, OLCHS’s cast speaks about their characters not as distant legends, but as people they’ve learned to inhabit.
The musical opens with Hermes, the messenger god and narrator, welcoming the audience into the tale. At OLCHS, Hermes is played by junior Olivia Lara, a three-year theater member who instantly understood the challenge of playing both guide and character.
“Hermes is the trickster god,” Olivia explained. “She opens it, she closes it, she tells everyone what they need to know. But there are two parts to her, the narrator, and the Hermes Orpheus knows. Switching between those took time, but I think I got it down.”
She wears feathers on her feet, literally. “The show mentions Hermes as ‘the woman with feathers on her feet,’” Olivia laughed. “So I have them. Come watch the show.”
Hermes brings us to Orpheus and Eurydice, setting the tale of their love in motion.
Watching, and meddling, are the three Fates, a trio whose harmonies and taunts shape the story’s tragedies.
Emely Rodriguez, playing Fate 3, describes them like sisters:
“I’m the sassy, serious older sister. Fate 1, Olivia Kobylarczyk, is the creepy but happy little sister. Fate 2, Lily Davis, is the grumpy one. Together, we’re always stirring the pot.”
Their job is to push the story forward without giving the ending away.
“As Fates, we know what’s coming,” Emely said. “We torment Orpheus and Eurydice a little, because we know their fate. And honestly? It’s fun. We need three of us to make the chaos happen.”
Olivia Kobylarczyk, Fate 1, loved stepping into a role unlike her usual ones.
“I’m innocent but evil, creepy but cute,” she said. “I usually play sweet or sad characters, so playing someone twisted was entertaining. This cast is amazing, and for my senior year, I’m excited. My whole family’s coming.”
The Fates wait in the shadows as Orpheus sings Eurydice a promise of spring, a promise threatened by storms, hunger, and fea
Enter Persephone, goddess of spring, life of the party, and deeply unhappy wife of Hades.
“She’s the goddess of spring. She brings light,” said senior Sophie Mathews, who plays Persephone. “But she’s also a little bit of an alcoholic. She was kidnapped by Hades, learned to love him over time, but she copes through drinking.”
Sophie found Persephone difficult, but rewarding.
“I had to channel a part of myself I didn’t know yet,” she said. “Figure out who she is, what she likes, what hurts her. I love this show. I’m so happy I get to do it for my senior year.”
Persephone’s return to the world above brings color, but also tension, because her husband is far below, watching.
Hades rules Hadestown, the underground factory-city where workers labor endlessly, convinced it’s for their own good. At OLCHS, Hades is played by Ethan Zumhagen, who describes the god as a mix of power, jealousy, and vulnerability.
“He’s the king of the mine. The god of wealth,” Ethan explained. “He builds the wall because he wants to protect what’s his. He’s jealous that the sun gets more time with Persephone. He feels rejected, so he takes action.”
For Ethan, playing such a cold character was a shift.
“It felt weird,” he said. “I’m someone who goes out of my way to be kind, and now I’m making evil decisions. But his arc is beautiful; he goes from stone-hearted to jealous to remorseful. Even with that growth, he still wants power.”
As a senior, the role is bittersweet.
“I don’t feel like a senior,” he admitted. “But I know I won’t get this chance again. I’m going to miss this group.”
When Eurydice descends into Hadestown seeking safety, Hades locks her into a contract, and Orpheus must follow her into the dark.
The underworld is populated by workers who once hoped for a better life but now labor endlessly for Hades’s empire.
Michael Concannon and Emma Mulcahy, two of the show’s essential workers, describe their characters as:
“People who sell their souls to the underworld, thinking life will improve… but really we’re just building Hades’s ego.”
They explained that the workers believe they have no purpose except to serve him.
“He manipulates us into thinking we belong only underground. It’s symbolic of real life, honestly, people convinced they owe everything to someone who controls them.”
Above ground, these same actors double as townsfolk waiting for spring.
“At the beginning, we’re just people in a bar listening to Hermes tell the story,” Emma said. “When we go underground, we’re the workers. Two worlds, same souls.”
And during rehearsals, they say their cast bonds like a real workforce.
“We do warm-ups together, we even have something called ‘Danny Time,’” Michael laughed.
Danny Cunningham, the student at the center of “Danny Time,” didn’t see it coming.
“They surprised me with it,” he said. “Emma and Marco just started it one day.”
Marco Mares recalled how it started:
“I saw Danny in costume and took a picture with the flash on. He looked so intense. That photo started everything.”
Their camaraderie adds heart to a story where the workers rarely get to feel free.
When Orpheus arrives in Hadestown, he sings a song so moving that it softens even Hades’s iron grip. The king agrees to let Eurydice go, but only if Orpheus leads her out without looking back.
The Fates whisper. Persephone watches. Hermes narrates. The workers pause.
And Orpheus… turns.
The musical ends with heartbreak, but also with the suggestion that the story will be told again, because hope, even fragile, is always reborn.
