When Mary Zimmerman won a Tony for Best Directing in 2002 for her play Metamorphoses, the production was famous for its use of water. At New York’s Circle in the Square Theatre, a giant pool dominated the stage. Innovative and daring, the conceit was replicated when Zimmerman put on the same show at Arena Stage in 2013. Actors danced in the water, creating beautiful aquatic parabolas with their arms and legs—the production even came with a splash zone, like the live theater equivalent of a SeaWorld dolphin show. Now at Folger Theatre, on a stage that is not equipped to handle a pool, all the water in the current production of Metamorphoses is imaginary.

Director Psalmayene 24 counts on a different conceit to draw in audiences. Instead of a body of water on stage, his exploration of Greek myth includes a cast of all Black actors, and the script is used to explore different facets of Black culture. His gambit may have less spectacle, but is no less entertaining and imaginative than Zimmerman’s original vision. If anything, Psalm proves the original text is highly malleable, to the point where he may even inspire other more modest theater companies to follow suit.

Based on the classic Ovid poem from the year 8 CE, Zimmerman’s text modernizes several vignettes from Greek myth, including the stories of King Midas as well as Orpheus and Eurydice. The cast includes 11 actors, all of whom play multiple roles, so the drama unfolds like a series of sketches—some comic, some dramatic—from the classical period. Stage designer Lawrence E. Moten III takes the familiar, Globe-like theater and adds a blue ellipsis at the center of the floor, a symbol for a pool, so sometimes the actors pantomime like they are swimming or drowning. At first, the “fake” pool is a distraction, and might leave those familiar with past productions wanting the real thing. But then Psalm opens up the stage, having his actors appear on the balconies or in the middle of the aisle, right next to the audience. This approach is dynamic, a shrewd way to make sure no scene repeats the same choreography.

Another key departure, one that would not be possible within a traditional production, is the use of costumes. Psalm and designer Mika Eubanks have all the actors switch outfits multiple times, depending on whether they’re playing Greek gods, kings, or mere paupers. This is also where Psalm is able to draw from Black culture. Jon Hudson Odom dresses like a hip-hop mogul when he enters the stage as King Midas; when he later appears as Orpheus, he looks like a cross between James Brown and Prince (the music cues, a mix of original sounds and anachronistic pop, lead to the show’s biggest laughs). But the most memorable use of costume happens at the beginning, during a dance where the actor Miss Kitty—in her Folger debut—dominates the stage in beautiful, ornate garb whose rattles serve as a kind of percussion. Miss Kitty’s performance is entirely silent, almost like she is the soul of the whole production, and her constant gaze, whether amused or withering, leaves a strong impression.

With a cast of strong actors, Psalm has an egalitarian approach to who shares the spotlight. Sometimes the actors provide narration, while others take turns performing as various characters from Zimmerman’s play. Highlights include Renea S. Brown, who plays Myrrha, a princess forced by Aphrodite to feel sexual thoughts about her father. The anxiety between disgust and lust is a tough thing to communicate, yet Brown ably switches between both modes in a matter of seconds. Like Brown, Gerrad Alex Taylor is memorable for his performance as Erysichthon, a man who is punished with insatiable hunger, and we see manic zeal when—in his desperation—he ultimately eats his own leg. Like Zimmerman, Psalm never dwells over the grotesqueries in the play, and instead uses mythic exaggeration to explore human impulses such as greed and lust, with performance helping filter those universal emotions through the lens of a Black experience. Not only is this version original, there is simply no way Zimmerman, a White woman, could ever have conceived of it.

Metamorphoses is more than an exploration of ironic punishments and trickery from the gods—that would be too repetitive, too needlessly cruel. Psalm also opts for stories that center Black love, like a poignant version of the doomed romance between Alcyone (a heartfelt Renee Elizabeth Wilson) and Ceyx (DeJeanette Horne) that ends with a measure of freedom, rather than tragedy. In this moment and others like when Edwin Brown’s version of Phaeton requires him to dress like the Fresh Prince, Psalm uses Zimmerman’s play to make the case that myth and legend can represent more than their source of origin. By centering the play on Black people, this Metamorphoses shows us how Greek myth is for everyone.

Metamorphoses, written by Mary Zimmerman and directed by Psalmayene 24, runs through June 16 at the Folger Theatre. folger.edu. $20–$84.