Transformations draws full house for both showings

Childhood bed time stories will never be the same again after seeing Transformations.
Transformations retells classics in a twisted light such as Snow White, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and many more during Anne Sexton's poetry turned theatrical production.
For Governors State University the Grimm's play is another leap forward as the school undergoes a massive renaissance of ideas. It
marked a significant achievement as it was the first production in the university's 44-year history to be put on stage by students and comprised an all student cast.
Cast members include Cherish Brown of Chicago; Lynne Clayton of Park Forest; Keisha Dyson of Chicago; Kimberly Hudson of Park
Forest; Keyana Marshall of Chicago; Roshaunda Ross-Orta of Homewood; and Deirdre Webb of Richton Park.
Their endeavor paid off at their April 24 opening of a two-night run which drew a full crowd for both performances at the Center for
Performing Arts. Those who attended gave them a standing ovation at the curtain call.
The seven member cast was all female and Dr. Patrick Santoro, an Assistant Professor of Communications, Visual And Performing Arts at GSU directed the performance. The actresses dressed in plain white clothes as the original script took place in a mental hospital as the patients acted out the haunting scenes.
Sexton ordered her 10-part opera to emphasize her persona, a witch, which gradually turns into an innocent victim trapped in a nightmare of her own mental state.
During the opening monologue children are not mentioned despite fairy tales usually focusing on young ones; instead she addresses the audience as the one's searching for answers in the stories.
Snow White lead off as the first story giving the audience the mental image of a young, beautiful girl drawing the ire of her stepmother's jealousy and becoming the victim of failed murder attempts as the mirror drives the stepmother to become the fairest of the land once Snow White is killed.
By the end of the poem Snow White has turned into her stepmother who was also corrupted by the mirror. From there the play follows a winding road of increasing confusion, insanity, and cannibalism that reflects Sexton's spiral into depression.
Sexton's work presents a strong critique of marriage as it refers to the binding as a "deathly stasis" and she shares her past where she was sexually abused by her father through her alterations to the tales.