38A | october 25-november 01, 2006 | SEVEN DAYS
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Hit and Myth PHOTO COURTESY OF: HUBERT SCHRIEBL
Theater preview: Metamorphoses
WILL PAILEN AND AMY KIM WASCHKE IN THE WESTON PLAYHOUSE PRODUCTION OF METAMORPHOSES.
agazine headlines promise to uncover the “myths” behind dating, dieting and other hot-button topics. Over time, the word has come to mean a false assumption — something to be debunked. But for more than 2000 STORY ELISABETH years, Greek myths have fired the Western imagination. The pantheon CREAN of mischievous gods and the mortals Metamorphoses, they manipulated have inspired directed by philosophers, painters, poets, psycholSteve Stettler, ogists and playwrights. produced by Classical language and culture once Weston Playhouse Theatre Company. formed the core of American educaDibden Center, tion. Today, many students and Johnson State adults don’t know a Greek god from College, a Greek olive. The Weston Playhouse October 26, 7:30 p.m. Flynn production of Mary Zimmerman’s Center, Burlington, Metamorphoses is an engaging and October 27, 8 p.m. entertaining refresher course in distinChandler Center, guishing Ceres and Ceyx from the Randolph, October Kalamata. More importantly, the play 28, 7:30 p.m. See this week’s reminds us that foibles, frailties and passions haven’t changed much over calendar for details on prethe millennia. Myths set on Mount show and post-show Olympus or in the fires of Hades still talks and prices. resonate today. Love was the favorite emotion of Roman poet Ovid, circa 8 A.D. In Metamorphoses, he retold ancient myths focusing on love, from the familial to the forbidden, as the primary agent of change. Sometimes love ennobled and endured; other times it destroyed. Chicago playwright Zimmerman — who is also a professor at Northwestern University and a 1998 MacArthur “genius grant” recipient — specializes in creating contemporary plays from historical and literary material, such as Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and Marcel Proust’s novels. To stage a modern Metamorphoses, she adapted a handful of Ovid’s stories. Familiar characters include goldobsessed King Midas and doomed
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lovers Orpheus and Eurydice. Lesser known are arrogant Erysichthon, stricken with hunger by Ceres for chopping down a sacred tree, and generous Baucis and Philemon, a poor couple who take in gods disguised as beggars after their wealthy neighbors have turned them away. The swift-moving play — one act, 80 minutes — opened just days after September 11, 2001, and became a surprise Broadway hit. The humor and pathos struck an elemental chord that proved cathartic for New York City during its darkest days. “The moment of metamorphoses is so excruciating, but then it can produce something new,” Zimmerman reflected in a 2002 PBS interview with Bill Moyers. “If you take the long view, we’ve suffered incredible disasters and transforming events, and yet story goes on, narrative goes on.” “Theater is imagination confronting the human condition,” says Weston’s Steve Stettler, who is producing and directing the play in Vermont. After its local run, the show hits the road, with performances in Johnson, Burlington and Randolph. Zimmerman set the action of Metamorphoses around a large pool of water. While the effect of this was “mesmerizing,” says Stettler, “the unusual experience of actors confronting real water sometimes pulled your focus from the actual story.” A portable pool proved impractical for touring anyway, so Stettler conjures liquid with props, lighting and sound effects. “We love shows like Metamorphoses,” he says, “where you have to bring your own imagination to it to see the whole picture.” Every year, the October play is also at the heart of Weston’s vibrant edu-
cational outreach programs. The offerings’ vigor and variety draw participants from across the state. A math teacher from Canaan, in the Northeast Kingdom, has attended the daylong workshops with scholars, trying to improve his school’s extracurricular drama program. Students from St. Albans have braved the three-hour bus ride, each way, for the school matinee. (The Flynn Center usually hosts a student matinee on the morning of Weston’s Burlington performance, but the theater was not available this year.) Demand for school-theater partnerships in northern Vermont may outstrip supply. Vermont Stage’s three school matinees of Woody Guthrie’s American Song, in late January, are already sold out — the FlynnSpace seats only 150. Weston’s programs serve about 3000 students annually, supported by grant sources ranging from the National Endowment for the Arts to Weston’s own Vermont Country Store. The programs’ ongoing success helps to ensure continued funding. Meanwhile, well-publicized fiscal struggles have kept major northern Vermont companies focused on survival. And schools often find arts programs lose out in budget battles. This fall there are two school matinees of Metamorphoses on the road (in Randolph and Keene, New Hampshire) and six in Weston, including one interpreted in American Sign Language. To help prepare students for seeing the play, teachers receive the script, an exhaustive study guide and invites to the spring workshop. A lively post-show “talkback” with the director and cast follows each matinee. After a performance last week, 7-12th graders from Ludlow
and Fair Haven queried cast members about how they change costumes so quickly (practice, and backstage helpers), which myths they like best (Baucis and Philemon is a favorite) and how long they’ve been rehearsing (just two-and-a-half weeks, but up to 12 hours a day). All seven actors play multiple roles, and they demonstrated the process of creating distinct voices and physical behaviors for each character. They encourage budding performers: All seven got their start in high school drama clubs. From its start in 1937, Weston has been led by “teacher-educators,” according to Stettler, who trained young artists alongside the pros. In 1988, leadership passed to producing directors Stettler, Malcolm Ewen and Tim Fort. They looked to move beyond the traditional summer stock model and bring “the broadest, most enriching series of theater-related productions and projects throughout the year to a wider audience.” As part of the expanded mission, Stettler continues, “It was essential that we build an education program that wasn’t just training young artists, but was in fact enriching the experience for the theatergoer.” Events for adults evolved along with those for students. For example, study guides are available to all patrons for every show. A winter discussion series encourages reading the plays before seeing them. Director’s talks and after-show talkbacks occur frequently throughout the season. “Our audiences have become more adventurous because we have included them in the process of the adventure,” says Stettler. The greatest concern, and challenge, is engaging “the younger gener-