In a scene based on Ovid’s story of Baucis and Philemon—in which the gods’ faith in mankind is restored by the devotion and generosity of a poor, elderly couple—Sarah Williams ’08 (left) is Baucis, Greg O’Kane ‘08 (right) is Philemon, and Lindsey Simcik ’10 (center) plays the Narrator. The couple has been granted a divine favor and must decide what to request. They ask to serve as priests and to die at the same moment so that, in Philemon’s words, “I never have to see my wife’s grave, nor she have to bury me.” The tale ends as they die, with the words “Farewell, O dear companion” on their lips, and change into trees whose branches intertwine.
Playwright Mary Zimmerman, recipient of a McArthur “genius” grant, created the play as a student production at Northwestern University. When it was staged on Broadway, Time called it the “theater event of the year” and Zimmerman won a Tony for her direction. “In Metamorphoses we examine the myths that gave instruction to countless human beings throughout the ages,” writes the Theater Department’s Luke Jorgensen, director of the University’s production. “Metamorphoses juxtaposes the ancient and the contemporary in both language and image to reflect the variety and persistence of love in the face of inevitable change.”
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Photograph: Lee Pellegrini