Gansett Grad In URI Theatre Cast

Release courtesy of URI Theatre.

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 Wednesday, Feb 21 to Friday, Feb. 23, and Feb. 28 to March 2 at 7:30 p.m., and Feb. 24 and March 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 and staff; and $12 for students. Tickets can be purchased by calling (401) 874-5843 or online here.

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 11 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

• Laine Wagner, Midas’s Daughter, Iris, Oread, Myrrha, Perfomer (Erysichthon); Narragansett, RI
• Julia Bartoletti; Second Launderess, Ceres, Persephone, Baucis, Narrator, Narcissus; Charlton, MA
• Brandon Gailliard, Midas, Sailor, Narrator, Hades, Offstage Voice, Performer (Narcissus); Warwick, RI
• 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, RI
• Americo Lanni, Phaeton, Hermes, Poseidon, Performer, (Erysichthon); Johnston, RI
• Benjamin Miller, Buyer, Orpheus, Apollo, Servant, Ceyx, Morpheus as Ceyx A, Philemon; Barrington, RI
• Christine O’Connell, First Launderess, Sailor, Lucina, Spirit of the Tree, Eurydice Q, Narrator; Newport, RI
• 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, RI