Nothing unusual appears in the
program for the College's production of Metamorphoses, running this week
in Yulman Theater, until you see the acknowledgement of “water
consultants.”
Donald Birch and Joseph Decowski,
who hold those titles, were instrumental in staging the first show at Union to feature water – a whole pool of it – as a
central “character.”
The two men, who normally hold
down duties on the Facilities staff, helped the Yulman crew design and build
what director Joann Yarrow calls “a magical place” — a 20- by 20-
foot pool of undetermined depth — for the play by Mary Zimmerman that is based
on the myths of the Roman poet Ovid.
The pool, Yarrow says, provides
the medium for human interaction in the play, and indeed the dozen characters
in the ensemble use it continuously. “It is definitely another character
in the play, another being with us,” Yarrow says.
The technical considerations for
staging a play with water were enormous, Yarrow says. “Can the floor take
the weight?” “How do we keep the water out of the basement?”
“How do we filter it and heat it?”
The production also requires some
items not normally found backstage: a large supply of towels (special thanks to
Athletics), a clothes drier, mops and squeegees. Actors have been rehearsing in
bathing suits; costumes, reserved for the production, need a full day to dry.
(“We could never do two shows in a day,” the director quips.)
Also contributing to the project
were Robert Balmer, dean of engineering, and students Victoria MacMullen and
Tim Pulask, who helped design the pool as a special project.
The play relies heavily on the
actors' physicality, Yarrow notes. “This is a movement-based work,”
she says. “The actor is not just a talking head. It's the body which
speaks as well.”
Yarrow brought in Louis
Guillemette of the Cirque du Soleil in Montreal
to help the actors to develop the work through a process called contact
improvisation. It was the actors themselves – not a choreographer – who
developed the movements that would become the play.
The play, according to the
program, “juxtaposes the ancient and the contemporary in both language and
image to reflect the variety and persistence of narrative in the face of
inevitable change.” Featured characters include Midas and Silenus, Alcyone,
Orpheus and (naturally, given the reflective medium) Narcissus.
The ensemble is Andrew Burke,
Kassandra Collazo, Phil Chorba, Aneesh Dambreville, Jackie Garrity, Ryan
Schiavone, Carly Hirschberg, Charles Holiday, Becca Hutton, Charles May, Mandee
Moondi and Davin Reed.
Set design is by Prof. Charles
Steckler, lighting by John Miller, costumes by Lloyd Waiwaiole, and sound by
Doris Lo.
Shows are through Saturday, Nov. 6
at 8 p.m., and Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. For tickets and information, call 388-6545.