Greek Myths Make Waves in UMD’s ‘Metamorphoses’
TDPS Production Brings Gods, Legends and a Pool to the Kogod Theatre
Some of the action in a new production of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" takes place around a 500-gallon pond specially built in UMD's Kogod Theatre.
Photos by Taneen Momeni
Actors from the University of Maryland’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) are diving into a mythical world of Greek gods and legends—and actually getting wet.
In the school’s latest production, “Metamorphoses,” directed by Assistant Professor KenYatta Rogers, a 500-gallon pond takes center stage in the intimate Kogod Theatre. The pond serves as both setting and symbol, helping to explore the theme of transformation woven throughout each of the tales adapted from Ovid’s classic epic—from Midas’ golden touch to Orpheus’ descent.
This adaptation of “Metamorphoses” was written in 1996 by director Mary Zimmerman, who envisioned water as a central character, both as a tribute to ancient maritime cultures and as a metaphor for transformation and change. Her unique vision earned her a Tony Award in 2002. For Rogers, the play has had a lasting impact: He first saw it on Broadway shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, and remembers how the stories offered “a way to renew faith in the miracle of healing.”
“Water can act as a purifier; it can act as a baptism; it can act as a conduit to sail away from something and to sail back,” Rogers said. “It is both a pathway and something you pass through, emerging transformed on the other side.”
The cast features Amelia Talbot '25 (left) as Hunger and Elyon Topolosky '27 as Erysichthon.
Constructing a pool for students to immerse themselves in was a challenge in itself. In a six-month collaboration between TDPS designers and The Clarice production team, a crew designed and built an 11-by-8-foot pond, 3-feet-deep, using sandbags, a pond liner, foam mats and plastic rocks. It also features a heating and filtration system designed for baptismal pools.
After discovering that the original pond liner was too slippery for actors, the crew drained the pool to remove the liner’s lubricant and applied textured paint along the edge for additional traction. To keep actors comfortable, each receives a robe and slippers to wear backstage after exiting the water.
“The laundry list of things you have to think about with water is all-consuming,” said scenic designer August Henney, an M.F.A. candidate, who added a fair warning for audiences: “You might get splashed if you're in the first row.”
As construction progressed, actors rehearsed around an imagined pool, and Rogers and M.F.A. dance candidate and choreographer Breeanah Breeden introduced weight-sharing exercises to help them adjust to the equilibrium shifts they’d experience in water. Some even practiced in the pool at the Eppley Recreation Center.
“But actually being in the water and feeling the resistance as you move through it completely changes the emotional intent of what's being done,” said Mars Burggraf ’25, who plays multiple roles including Orpheus, King Ceyx, Apollo and Philamon.
Kayla Harvey-Ali ’26 noted how water aids her in playing the role of the greedy Erysichthon’s mother, who morphs into a little girl to escape. She uses the water “to create this whole new element of joy and what it means to be a child.”
While audiences may not relate directly to the transformation into animals, nymphs or gods, or to tales of turning everything to gold or making tragic sacrifices, Rogers believes the “horrible and comic” events in this ancient world offer powerful metaphors for navigating today’s challenges.
“These stories hold the keys to how to sail upon the water when it’s calm, to brave the storms, to resurrect when things don’t go your way,” he said. “Hopefully, audiences are left with some moments that are, if at first destructive, ultimately soothing and healing.”
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Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center College of Arts and Humanities