Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

When Mary Zimmerman's adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses was on Broadway in 2002, it won a host of awards, including the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel awards for best play. Zimmerman took home the Tony award for best director. This spring, director Psalmayene 24 and an all-Black cast stage a new production of the play interpreted through the lens of the African diaspora.  Zimmerman joins us on the podcast to talk about the process of adapting Metamorphoses and The Odyssey, directing Shakespeare, and more. She is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. Beyond Metamorphoses, Zimmerman has adapted other ancient texts for the stage, like The Odyssey, Jason and the Argonauts, and Journey to the West. She has directed many of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as operas at the Metropolitan Opera. She co-wrote the libretto for the Phillip Glass opera Galileo Galilei. The Matchbox Magic Flute, her new adaptation of Mozart, plays at DC's Shakespeare Theater Company this month, in association with the Goodman Theatre