November 18, 2004—Two major student productions will take the stage at Oberlin College the first weekend of December: Tales from Ovid, an acclaimed stage adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operetta H.M.S. Pinafore.

Tales from Ovid will be performed in the College's Little Theater under the auspices of the Theater and Dance Department Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, December 2 through December 5 at 8 p.m., with a matinee on Saturday December 4 at 2 p.m. This play is for mature audiences; it contains violence, nudity, and a rape scene.

Premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Theater, Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1999, Tales from Ovid is a complex ensemble piece, featuring 10 performers playing more than 32 characters. The production is an interdisciplinary project under the direction of Matthew Ozawa '05, a music theory major in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

To bring the characters, places, and transformations to life, Ozawa combines Latin verses, movement, storytelling, singing, masks and cloth with original compositions and electronic sound by Aaron Helgeson '05, a double major in composition and theory in the Conservatory.

Tickets at the door will be $5 for those with OCID, senior citizens, and educators, and $7 for a general audience. Advance tickets of $3 and $5 are available at the College's Central Ticket Service 440.775.8169. Little Theater is located at the rear of Hall Auditorium, 67 N. Main St. Seating is limited.

Oberlin College's Gilbert and Sullivan Players will present H.M.S. Pinafore or The Lass That Loved a Sailor in Wilder Main at 7:30 p.m. Friday, December 3, and Saturday, December 4, with a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday, December 5. Admission at the door will be $4. Advance tickets will be available for $3 at the main desk of Wilder Hall, 135 W. Lorain St. For more information, telephone 440.774.3500.

The fourth collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan, Pinafore was their first blockbuster hit. This operetta, which satirizes the snobbery and hypocrisy of the English social system of the day, opened May 1878. Amy O'Callaghan '07 is the director and Van Harper '05 is musical director. The production includes three Oberlin residents: performers Charles Lermond, who has been a member of the G&S Players for 19 years, George Hannauer '58, and Jane Hannauer '57, a member of the orchestra.

Oberlin College Gilbert and Sullivan Players has had several incarnations since its founding in 1949 by Alan Garb '51 and Ellen Uhrbrock '51. The current third edition of the Gilbert and Sullivan Players is entirely student run in all areas, including administration. G&S has produced more than 25 operettas since its revival in 1981 by Gayden Wren '83 and others. Twelve of the 13 G&S operettas have been produced since 1980.