Rain City Rollers

A musical retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in a women’s roller derby circa 1936. Co-written by Nikki Appino, David Russell and Kevin Joyce, music and lyrics by David Russell and Kevin Joyce.

Project Description

The skirts are on skates in this original musical retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Relive their tragic love story set in a roller derby marathon on the eve of World War II. This musical extravaganza, complete with ten girl skaters and a three-piece swing band, was performed on a track circling the audience at the Sand Point Naval Base.

Rain City Rollers is a musical love story about cursed angels, skater’s hopes, and America’s broken dreams. The tale begins when two fallen angels arrive in a 1936 roller derby marathon and must make two mortals fall in love in order to break a curse that locks them in time. They are hired by two ambitious promoters to audition a group of women who will become roller skaters in the first Transcontinental Roller Derby Marathon. Poisonous vipers, mistaken identity, and a trip to the underworld are all obstacles in this race against time.

Rain City Rollers was developed in a four-workshop process, over fourteen months, that began March 1999. Following the success of the workshop at the ASK Festival in Los Angeles, Rain City Rollers opened in Seattle in Summer 2000 and enjoyed a mightily successful run.

The History of Roller Derby

The Transcontinental Roller Derby was first invented by promoter Leo Seltzer amidst the record-breaking craze of post-Depression America. On August 13, 1935, twenty-thousand Chicagoans witnessed 100 skaters begin their 3,000-mile journey around and around the track. The distance between San Diego and New York City, on skates! Over a forty-one days later, two lone skaters finally won the first derby.

By 1938, this marathon event, fashioned after the dance marathons of the 1920's, had changed into a sporting event. Under the influence of sportswriter Damon Runyon, who witnessed several skaters accidentally crash into each other, Seltzer revised the rules. He created two teams and added more 'body contact' between the skaters. Audiences were captivated by this new sport, which hundreds of thousands witnessed as it traveled from small town to big cities across America.