November 5, 2004: Volume 62, Number 9

Yulman play puts water center stage

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.

<< Previous Story Mandeville show looks at...

Next Story >> Airline tickets up for grabs...