By Emily Wiley, Editor-in-Chief
A new production on campus will feature an on-stage pool and student aerial silk artist.
Metamorphoses is an adaptation from a poem written by the Roman poet, Ovid. The play is about several different Greek myths and how they are connected by the theme of love. As the play continues, the audience sees how love affects these different characters and how the power of love can concur everything.
“The show is amazing,” said David Chrzanowski, assistant professor of movement and acting. “It is also very visually appealing. The set is amazing with the way the pool is designed just pulls it all together. The aerial silk also just adds to the production.”
The six thousand gallon and two foot deep pool was designed specifically for this production and takes up more than three quarters of the stage. The water in the pool has to be heated to keep the actors from being cold the entire production.
“The audience is every close to the stage and pool,” Chrzanowski said. “There is a chance that the audience will get splashed during one of the first scenes.”
Chrzanowski also said the actors are involved in the pool during the play, saying that they swim under the water and even have a battle scene in the water.
Another part of the production is the aerial silk artist who will be performing above the pool during part of the play.
“This element of the play is one of my own ideas,” Chrzanowski said. “I think it adds something more to the production and the visual appeal is stunning.”
Taylor Hix, acting senior, is the aerial silk artist who will be performing above the pool. Hix said she became interested in aerial silks last year and has taken some beginner-level lessons.
“Most of what I will be doing are just basic moves, but I want to show people how beautiful and graceful this art is,” Hix said.
The scene where Hix will be performing her aerial silks is when her character, “Eurydice,” is trying to come back from the underworld of Greece. As she is trying to escape, Eurydice is following her lover “Orpheus” so she can be with him.
“It is a little scary to be above the pool, but I am confident in everyone I am working with and the moves I am doing,” Hix said.
Chrzanowski said that the play is an experience that he hopes everyone will enjoy.
“It’s been a collaborative process, and I am so excited for everyone else to see it,” Chrzanowski said.
Metamorphoses runs Feb. 5-8. Show times are 8 p.m. on Feb. 5-6, and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Feb. 7-8.
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