adaptation

Adapting literature to the stage takes courage.

It is an act of risk and reverence as we excavate the dense world of language, imagery, and ideas from a novel hundreds of pages long and transport its many characters and landscapes to the stage. It's a negotiation with the voice of the author, and the realities of immediate storytelling, as we navigate themes and narratives to distill down to the essential, while honoring the detailed moments and nuance of the novel.

The density of the novel can never, truly, be translated to the stage. From the very beginning, our work has been geared towards engaging the collective imagination of our audience. We start with a blank canvas, an empty space, that our actors and designers use to create the world of the novel. This approach strips away the dependence on realism, and releases us to truly live inside the story of an adaptation grounded in the best of what theater can offer: a world of imagination and wonder.

Our approach to translating literature to stage is unique in the landscape of New York Theatre. At the heart of our work is an ensemble of actors, designers and other creatives that make up our company. We are a family of artists working from a deeply formed bond, shared language, and a unified approach to creating plays. Almost every member of the team, on any given project, is a returning collaborator. Many of the artists on our team have been working with us over the last ten years or more.

Our approach to adapting novels to the stage has been acknowledged with numerous awards and recognitions including multiple Drama Desk Awards. We are honored to have the company’s work recognized, and to share that work with you.