CSU Assistant Professor of Theatre Holly Holsinger, Cleveland Scene's Best Director of 2010, will return to the Cleveland State University Factory Theatre to helm the award-winning Metamorphoses. Adapted by Mary Zimmerman from the myths of Ovid, Metamorphoses is had been called comical, breathtaking, heartbreaking and sublime, and was described by the New York Times as "the place in which dreams and reality, the primal and the particular melt and merge, devastate and console."

Metamorphoses runs November 11-21 at the CSU Factory Theatre. Opening night will feature a catered champagne reception following the show. The Saturday, November 20 show is limited to attendees of the Tribute to Reuben and Dorothy Silver endowed scholarship event.

Curtain times are Thursday-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. The Factory Theatre is located at 1833 East 24th Street, between Chester and Payne avenues.

In addition, CSU students will perform cabaret-style musical theater after the shows on November 13 and 19, under the direction of Summer Stages musical director John Kroll.

Performing in and around an 1,800 gallon on-stage pool designed and built specifically for the Factory Theatre, Holsinger's cast of 12 undergraduate students portray characters in nine Greek myths taken from Ovid, ranging from Midas'golden touch to Phaeton, whose misadventure on his father Apollo's sun-chariot is dissected in a psychoanalysis session, to the forbidden relationship between Myrrha and her father.

"Every aspect of the play is about transformation," says the show's dramaturge and adjunct faculty Dr. Lisa Bernd. "Metamorphoses uses Ovid's ancient work to explore how human beings are transformed by greed, lust, grief, love, kindness… in addition, each actor portrays more than one character in the play—not only are you seeing mythical stories about transformation, but the actors themselves are continually transforming."

"For me, these stories have made their way into our subconscious," says Holsinger, "They appear over and over throughout history in different ways and places. They keep getting reinvented. They are part of our human culture."

Tickets are $10 general admission and $5 for students, seniors and CSU faculty/staff. For ticket reservations, please call the box office at 216.687.2109. Tickets may also be purchased one-half hour before show time.

About Cleveland State University

Founded in 1964, Cleveland State University is a public research institution that provides a dynamic setting for engaged learning. With an enrollment of more than 17,000 students, eight colleges and approximately 200 academic programs, CSU was again chosen for 2011 as one of America's Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report.

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