Theater production to feature greek tales, gods, love
Brian Cheslik, director of “Metamorphoses” and an assistant professor of communication science and disorders, arranges actors around the stage during rehearsals Wednesday at the Albert L. Jeffers Theatre on the Edinburg campus. Aura Velasquez/THE RIDER
“Metamorphoses,” the classical retelling of Greek and Roman myths by Ovid, which centers around a pool of water and explores the theme of different types of love, will come to UTRGV’s stage as the semester’s opening performance.
The production will premiere March 1 and run till March 3. It is hosted by the Department of Theatre and directed by Brian Cheslik, an assistant professor at the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders.
Cheslik said the genre of the play is abstract with modern and classical concepts.
“Love is love,” he said about the theme of the production. “Love is beautiful, love is ugly, love is heartbreaking, love is euphoric, love is everything, love is all you need for all we need is love.”
The story follows multiple points of view telling the love stories involving various characters, such as Philemon and Baucis, Vertumnus and Pomona, and Aphrodite and Myrrha.
Cheslik said the production will incorporate multimedia elements, including water effects, dance, videography, music and sound.
“I want them to feel every single emotion,” he said. “It’s gonna be a rollercoaster. I want them to come away from this with an experience similar to what I had when I first saw it. Ten years later and I still think about that production every single day.”
When attending Gallaudet University, Cheslik presented a scene from “Metamorphoses” with late friend Luce Victoria LeBlanc, involving Myrrha and Aphrodite. In homage to LeBlanc, who was known to have bright pink hair, the character Aphrodite will wear a wig similar to LeBlanc’s hair in the play.
“When I stage that scene with costuming and everything, it’s going to be symbolic of my friend Victoria,” Cheslik said. “So, that way, Victoria’s spirit can live on in this show because I feel it every day when I’m directing it.”
Theatre performance freshman Ely Chaparro will portray different characters, including Psyche, a Greek and Roman goddess of the soul, a nymph named Oread and the voice of Aphrodite.
“While you see the story unfold and you are simply just the narrator, you are supposed to be seeing this in a bird’s-eye point of view,” Chaparro said about reading for the narrator in Eurydice and Orpheus’s story. “You can’t help but find these revelations of how life parallels art and these stories.”
She compared the pool of water to connectedness, emotion, life and hopes the audience ultimately brings these stories back to love.
“We are all connected,” Chaparro said. “We are all one. Stories connect humanity and I hope we can get that through these Greek stories being told.”
Theater film senior Valeria Mendoza is making her stage manager debut at UTRGV in “Metamorphoses.” She previously worked with productions in the South Texas College Theatre department.
Mendoza is responsible for ensuring everything on and off stage is running smoothly, including collaborating with choreographers, actors and directors.
“Putting in the bits and pieces into the show so it can look spectacular, especially when there is water involved,” Mendoza said about working closely with different choreographers. “It’ll be interesting [to see] how that goes.”
Tickets for UTRGV students, faculty and staff are $7 with valid ID. General admission is $17. Tickets for older people and military are $12. This production is not family friendly or meant for children.
Tickets are available at utrgv.edu/theatre.
