KINGSTON, RI – February 12, 2013 – The University of Rhode Island Department of Theatre will take audiences along on mythological adventures with its production of Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman.

The show will be staged Feb 21-23 and Feb 28-March 2, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb 24 and Mar 3 at 3 p.m. in J Studio in the URI Fine Arts Center on the Kingston Campus. General admission for the performance is $20, $15 for seniors, URI faculty/staff, and $12 for students. Tickets can be purchased by calling 401.874.5843 beginning Feb 11 or online at www.uri.edu/theatre.

Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses is based on David R. Slavitt’s free-verse translation of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Her 20th Century adaptation of the Roman poet Ovid’s transformational poem juxtaposes the ancient and the contemporary in both language and image. In her work images snag on the edges of thought, stirring up fragments of half-remembered dreams. A door opens to reveal a dead lover, alive again and yet not quite the same. A man looks over his shoulder and fails to see the familiar face he was sure was behind him. Metamorphoses is a grand tour of ancient mythology that speaks to us as affectively today as in days past.

Nominated for three 2002 Tony Awards, including “Best Play,” Metamorphoses earned Zimmerman a Tony for “Best Direction of a Play.”

URI’s production, in which eleven actors and actresses play many characters, is directed by Steven Raider-Ginsberg. The Artistic Director is HartBeat Ensemble, Hartford, Conn., Guest Artist; costume design by David T. Howard; sets by URI Alumnus Patrick Lynch; lighting design by Associate Professor Christian Wittwer, and sound design by guest artist Mike Hyde.

Actor, Characters, Hometown

Julia Bartoletti, Second Launderess, Ceres,

Persephone, Baucis, Narrator

Narcissus, Charlton, MA

Brandon Gailliard, Midas, Sailor, Narrator,

Hades, Offstage Voice

Performer (Narcissus), Warwick

Benjamin Hill, Zeus, Bacchus, Henchman

Erysichthon, Narrator, Cinyras

Performer, (Narcissus and Pandora), East Hampton, CT

Daraja Hinds, Woman by the Water, Alcyone,

Pomona, Woman at the Door

Narrator, Pandora, Pawtucket

Americo Lanni, Phaeton, Hermes, Poseidon,

Performer, (Erysichthon), Johnston

Benjamin Miller, Buyer, Orpheus, Apollo,

Servant, Ceyx, Morpheus as Ceyx

A, Philemon, Barrington

Chrisine O’Connell, First Launderess, Sailor, Lucina,

Spirit of the Tree, Eurydice

Q, Narrator, Newport

Catherine Poirier, Aphrodite, Hunger,

Third Launderess, Narrator

Psyche, Woodstock, CT

Katerine Riley, Scientist, Narrator,

Erysichton’s Mother

Nursemaid to Myrrha

Sleep, Therapist, Hillsdale, NJ

Marc Tiberiis II, Silenus, Narrator, Eros,

Sisyphus, Vertumnus

Performer (Pandora), Pawtucket

Laine Wagner, Midas’s Daughter, Iris,

Oread, Myrrha

Perfomer (Erysichthon), Narragansett

Shown Above:

Ben Hill of East Hampton, Conn., (front) as Erysichthon (front) and Brandon Gailliard of Warwick, R.I., as Hunger

Julie Bartoletti of Charlton, Mass., and Daraja Hinds of Pawtucket, R.I.

Ben Hill of East Hampton, Conn., as Zeus, and Ricco Lanni of Johnston, R.I., as Hermes

Photographs

To download any of these images or others, please visit
http://flickr.com/gp/uritoday/485Jfx/

URI Theatre Department photographs by William Hicks.