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TALES FROM OVID

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An Elegant Fusion of Action, Music, Movement and Design, Tales from Ovid in Little Theater, Dec 2-5







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OBERLIN, OH—A complex interdisciplinary project, Tales from Ovid exposes the most intense emotional passions in an elegant fusion of acting, music, movement, and artistic design. Ten Oberlin College students play thirty-two different characters—that range from the comic to the tragic--in Simon Reade and Tim Supple's highly praised adaptation from Ted Hughes's English translation of Ovid's classic work, The Metamorphoses.

Directed by senior Matthew Ozawa, Tales from Ovid brings raw human passions to Oberlin College's Little Theater on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday December 2-5 at 8 PM with a matinee performance on Saturday December 4th at 2 PM. This play is for mature audiences only as it contains violence, nudity, and a rape scene. Seating in Little Theater is limited, and there is no late seating. This production is sponsored by the Oberlin College Theater and Dance Program.

Synopsis
Tales from Ovid was first premiered by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Swan Thater, Stratford-upon-Avon, in April 1999. The ten tales adapted for the stage include the stories of: Tiresias, Narcissus and Echo, Semele, Pentheus and Bacchus, Myrrah, Tereus and Philomela, Midas, Pan and Apollo, Salamacis and Hermaphroditus, and Arachne and Minerva. They range from the comic to the tragic and are filled with various interactions between the supernatural and the human world. Ovid's stories are 'inseparable from our unconscious imaginative life,' declares translator Hughes, and they have been highly influential for centuries, even on the works of men such as Shakespeare and Chaucer.

Production Notes
Director Ozawa faced the difficulties of a twofold collaboration in his concept for the show - his work with the actors and with the production team. "As there are no props or set pieces, the actors are limited to working with their bodies, masks and cloth to bring all the various characters, places, and transformations to life," states Ozawa. "Every actor is of equal importance and each one must challenge themselves to work towards the extreme physical, mental and emotional demands of the text." Ozawa has also brought together a talented production team together--having to combine newly composed music with Ovid's preexisting Latin, or merging the electronic sound design with the physical make-up of the set. States Ozawa, "The cast and production team have done a phenomenal job, and the entire team is extremely excited to see this play come to life."

Performers and Production Staff:
The cast includes (in alphabetical order): Matthew Fidanque '06 as Narcissus, Acoetes, Pan and Hermaphroditus; Zak Fishman '06 as Pentheus, Tereus, and Apollo; Shelby Franz '05 as Echo, Salamacis and Nurse; Adam Kander '07 as Jupiter, Cinyras, Pandion, and Tmolus; Maggie Keenan-Bolger '06 as Bacchus, Arachne, and Itys; Elizabeth McAdam '06 as Philomela, Semele, and Chorus; Clare McNulty '07 as Procne, Minerva, and Chorus; Avery Monsen '06 as Tiresias and Midas; Diona Reasonover '06 as Juno, Agave, Executioner, and Barber; Marielle Solan '06 as Storyteller and Myrrah.

The Oberlin College production staff includes students from an array of different disciplinary fields including: Carolyn Mraz '05 (Set Designer), Rebecca Ball '05 (Lighting Designer), Aaron Helgeson '05 (Sound Designer), Caitlin Goodman '06 (Costume Designer), Avery Monsen '06 (Mask Designer), Olivia Verdugo '05 (Dramaturge), Lizzie Ehrenhalt '05 (Latin Coach), Jeffrey Porter '06 (Technical Director), Sarah Pilzer '05 (Master Electrician and Light Board Operator 1), Elizabeth Burke '07 (Stage Manager), Gabriel Crane '08 (Assistant Stage Manager and Light Board Operator 2), Jessa De Lia '05 (Assistant Stage Manager), Carson Shelton '06 (Production Assistant), and Lauren Miller '07 and Taylor Bibat '07 (Publicity Coordinators).