Uncle Ovid's Storytime & Stand-Up Metamorphoses, a one-man show translated, adapted, directed and performed by Todd Conner (with additional direction by Gregory Bell), begins an eight-performance, two-week run in Coldwater Canyon Park on Oct. 5.

Conner has done a new translation of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and adapted it for a series of special performances. The outdoor show features Conner, a few props, simple lighting effects and live musical accompaniment on harp and an assortment of other instruments by Bobbie Jo Curley. The idea is to allow the power of these old tales themselves, simply presented in a pastoral setting, to transport the audience back in time.

Conner devised the show a few years ago and worked on it while employed at the Getty Center as a designer. He would do a short weekly reading of Ovid, relating the excerpt to an item from the Getty collection that had been inspired by Ovid's works. A positive reaction from his colleagues inspired Conner to do a new translation of "Metamorphoses" and to expand his little show into a full evening of theatre.

Conner is an experienced actor/director. His play, The Grendelmas, inspired by the Beowulf legend, won the Hendrix-Murphy playwriting award. In Dallas, Conner also served as artistic director of the Playwrights Project for two seasons.

Performances, through Oct. 15, are at the Mark Taper Foundation Amphitheatre, Coldwater Canyon Park, 12601 Mulholland Drive. For tickets and information call (213) 501-6788. -- By Willard Manus
Southern California Correspondent