'Metamorphoses' adapts tales of transformation
By Matt von Boecklin
Put a pool in the middle of a stage and find out how to keep the actors warm and dry as they climb in and out of it. Then tie in Ovid and his great poetic genius, throw in music and choreography, and sit back to enjoy the transformations that occur in Michael Zampelli's "Metamorphoses."
"It's basically a series of tales about transformation," said Zampelli, director and chief supervisor of the show. "It's a piece devised by this playwright (Mary Zimmerman) at Northwestern , and it's basically that she has adapted nine of Ovid's tales of transformation from his 'Metamorphoses' for the stage in one show."
Ovid's poems include tales of Midas, Narcissus and other classics, woven into one tail of nine stories. But what's especially interesting is the addition of a pool in the center of the stage, which must be heated so the performers who traipse in and out of it don't catch pneumonia or embarrass themselves in other ways.
"The pool is critical to the functions of the play. The idea is that water is one of those basic elements that facilitate transformations all the time," Zampelli said.
The themes of water stretch deeply into the play's purpose: human bodies contain 70 percent water; water is a symbol of regeneration, and yet water is also a symbol of destruction as well.
"The water is about beautiful things, it's a symbol of things ugly and harsh; there's just this ambiguity about water's nature that encompasses so many things," says Zampelli.
The play features an original score, composed by Santa Clara's Gregory Schultz, from Campus Ministry. The score is completely original, yet he is quite humble.
"It is a wonderful experience to share in the creative process with such talented students, and to both guide and witness the evolution of their craft," says Schultz.
Kristin Kusonavich, dance instructor and choreographer of the production, also deserves such great credit, as she constructed all dance sequences herself, set against Schultz's score. But when it all comes down to it, the reason for attending "Metamorphoses" is simple: to be awed and inspired.
"I would like the audience to be delighted by the experience of the transformation, by the theatricality of the presentation. I would like them to leave with this sense of awe," Zampelli says. "The stories are about passion. The transformations that take place are about particular passions, sort of coming to such a head in us that we can't contain them in the form we're in, so we are forced to change form."
Rhe entire crew and cast are meant to "transport" the audience away from the theater throughout the play. "Metamorphoses" will have a mythical character, meant to sweep the onlooker away to different realms. Just as long as the pool doesn't break.