Award-winning ‘Metamorphoses’ at Aquinas

    A play
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    Acquinas College courtesy photo: Orpheus, Eurydice and Hermes arise from the underworld

    Metamorphoses, a play based primarily on the mythical poetry of Ovid, opens at Acquinas College Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.

    Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō, known simply as Ovid, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Caesar Augustus. In 1996, these myths and folklore from Ancient Greece had new life breathed into them by playwright and director Mary Zimmerman when her early version of the play was performed at Northwestern University. From there it went on to open officially at Chicago’s Looking Glass Theater, where it premiered in 1998. The play grew in reputation and eventually earned a venue on Broadway where it was nominated for three Tony Awards in 2002 and earned Zimmerman a Tony for Best Direction of a Play.

    Zimmerman’s rendition of Metamorphose, which borrows also from Lucius Apuleius’ translation of the Ovid poem, focuses on tales of transformation of characters like King Midas, Orpheus and Eurydice, Phaeton, Eros and Psyche and uses water to bring them  together. 

    Metamorphoses contains elements of various genres– comedy, classic tragedy and drama,  and uses visual and aural illusions achieved through simple stage techniques.

    Directed by Annelise Dickinson, Metamorphoses makes its Grand Rapids debut Thursday, Oct. 6 at the Aquinas College Performing Arts Center, 1703 Robinson SE, Grand Rapids. Additional performances on Oct. 7 and 8 at 7:30 p.m. and one performance on Oct. 9 scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

    Purchase tickets online or by calling the box office at 616-456-6656.

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