---
title: Greek Myths Make Waves in UMD’s ‘Metamorphoses’
date: 2024-11-18T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/greek-myths-make-waves-in-umds-metamorphoses"
section: Articles
---
# Greek Myths Make Waves in UMD’s ‘Metamorphoses’

*November 18, 2024* — by [Jessica Weiss ’05](/author/jessica-weiss-05)


> TDPS Production Brings Gods, Legends and a Pool to the Kogod Theatre

*241114 Metamorphoses 06 1920x1080 — 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.*

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.”


*one actor kneels and yells while another crouches near pond on stage — The cast features Amelia Talbot '25 (left) as Hunger and Elyon Topolosky '27 as Erysichthon.*



**Sidebar note:**

“Metamorphoses” runs at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19-22 in the Kogod Theatre. Tickets are available on [The Clarice’s website](https://theclarice.umd.edu/events/2024/metamorphoses).





**Topics:** [Arts & Culture](https://today.umd.edu/tags/arts-culture)


**Tags:** [Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies](https://today.umd.edu/topic/theatre-dance-performance-studies), [Student Experience](https://today.umd.edu/topic/student-experience), [Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/arts)


**Units:** [Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center](https://today.umd.edu/topic/clarice-smith-performing-arts-center), [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)