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NEO Transformed for Metamorphoses
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ROM the depths of Hades to the heights of Mt. Olympus, the cast and crew of the Theater Department’s fall play, Metamorphoses, took viewers on a sumptuous tour of ancient history and mythology. Based on Ovid’s narrative poem and modernized in 1998 by the American playwright Mary Zimmerman, the NEO production was at times scary, astonishing, humorous, and inspiring. “It is the best-looking show we’ve ever done. It is very textural and very beautiful,” said director Brian Kosanovich, head of the Department of Theater & Dance. Brian gave special credit to the students’ mastery of cues for the sound, lighting, and costuming. “The lighting design is extremely complicated, and the cues for the sound have to be perfect or the effect is lost. We have spent twice as much time focusing on the cues,” he noted. The cast included seniors Samson Chow, Liana Fernez, AsiaSol Goring, and Melanie Silverman; juniors Lauren Chase, Darius Moore, and Amy Ward; sophomores Rohin Bhargava and Quinn Schoen; and theater and science teacher Neil Chaudhary ’05. Each actor took both major and minor parts that were woven throughout the tapestry of the play. They often were required to move from speaking in a more formal Latin cadence to modern hip-hop phraseology, and they did so without skipping a beat, or missing a cue.
aged students to ask questions about the current debate over health care to inform themselves about the issues. “Here’s where you should be very interested. You are the ones who are going to have to pay one way or another for a problem like this. Do the right thing. Get me some answers … at least.” Scott MacClintic ’82, a science teacher and director of the Kravis Center for Excellence in Teaching, shared a few examples of doing the right thing that he had gleaned
Sophomore Quinn Schoen, junior Darius Moore, senior AsiaSol Goring, and senior Samson Chow. Photo: Wayne Dombkowski
The stage crew hand-painted the original backdrop (cyclorama) of the sky, which took on luminous shades as the lighting changed. The most astonishing effect was a pool of water, which was the focus of much of the action, as well as an unexpected rainstorm. Senior Sirena Huang performed on the violin to accompany the play. “None of this has ever been tried in the NEO before,” Brian said. “I am extremely proud of the work all of the students and staff have put in making this production one of the best we’ve done.” Senior Abigail Adams and junior Sakirat Akadri led the technical crew, along with seniors Thomas Budd,
from the book, including the story of three doctors who resigned from their positions rather than participating in a study involving the injection of HeLa cells into patients without their consent. Quoting from the doctors’ resignation letter, Scott said, “The doctors felt that their ‘inaction’ could be interpreted as ‘condoning’ research that was in their view ‘morally wrong.’” According to Scott, the doctors’ resignations caused a firestorm that eventually led to the modern concept of informed consent.
Robert “Nick” Citrone, Kayla Coley, Kenny Ganiswarna, Heidi Taggart, and Emily Tanji; juniors Mark Crawford, Esraa Sabah, and Nina Sayles; sophomores James Daring, Natalia Gutierrez, Minh Le, Laura Paddock, and Xin Wen; and freshman Mollie Richter. Many of the students also worked with and learned stage techniques from a professional production team that assisted with the play.
Scott concluded with several ideas for calls to action — ways to “do the right thing.” “What can I do? I’m not a doctor at Sloan Kettering; I don’t have the clout of a Rebecca Skloot [the author of the all-school reading],” Scott said. “You don’t always have to do huge things. There are a lot of little things you can do every day. Join community service. Become an informed citizen. Adopt a pet. Join the bone marrow registry.”
year, and upcoming speakers on the theme include Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania; Drew Dudley, a leadership and motivation expert who will talk about everyday leadership moments; and Scott Wallace ’72, photographer and author of The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes. (See related feature story on page 28.)
Conversations about doing the right thing are continuing throughout the loomischaffee.org | 7