Adaptation and Translation

Bertie Ferdman interviews Anne Hamburger about Basetrack Live, a multimedia theatre production inspired by Basetrack: One-Eight, a web project created in 2010 by photojournalists embedded with US Marines fighting in southern Afghanistan.

"All Our Tragic," adapted and directed by Sean Graney and produced by The Hypocrites at the Den Theatre in Chicago, features all thirty-two surviving Greek tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides compiled into a single twelve-hour epic. It includes seven intermissions of varying lengths and a vegan feast of Mediterranean food is served throughout. The result is rather like a contemporary version of a Dionysian festival.

Morgan Gould reviews The Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise, and also interacts with the idea of revealing her tastes as a critic before reviewing.

Jonathan Mandell writes about the life of prolific costume designer Carrie Robbins, and her new ambitions as adaptor and playwright.

Patricia Davis reviews the Constellation Theatre's production of The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Lily Janiak discusses the world premiere of Stuart Eugene Bousel's adaptation of Rat Girl, a memior by Kristin Hersh, lead singer of Throwing Muses.

This week's conversation topic is "Modernizing/Adapting Classic Plays: How & Why Do You Do It?" and will be moderated by Lianna Salva @LiannaSalva—who like all of our moderators, authors, and content producers—self-selected to peer-produce on this commons-based platform! This hour-long Howl will take place on Thursday, May 8 on hashtag #newplay at 11am PDT (Vancouver) / 1pm CDT (Austin) / 2pm EDT (Toronto) / 18:00 GMT / 7pm BST (London).

Bess Rowen interviews Christopher Andrew Loar of the New York Neo-Futurists, creator/director of The Complete & Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill.

Allison Vanouse continues her look at productions from university students in Boston. In this post she reviews Steven Berkoff's adaptation of Kafka's Metamorphosis, directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue

Alice Stanley Jr. reviews Orange Theatre’s experimental production of Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding, which incorporated contemporary multimedia technology in its warehouse set.

Allison Vanouse looks at student theatre — which is infrequently reviewed — choosing to critique Conspiracy (an adaptation of the 2001 HBO film), from the Harvard Radcliffe Dramatic Club.

Talleri McRae offers her thoughts on Peter Pan Live, and how NBC might approach bringing the family tale to the small screen.

This week's conversation topic is "Stage to Screen/Screen to Stage: Lost in Translation?" which will be about the transition of a work from stage to screen and vice-versa, and the changes in theater’s place in the culture. Join us on Twitter hashtag #newplay on Thursday, January 9 at 11am PST – 12pm PST (Vancouver) / 1pm CST – 2pm CST (Austin) / 2pm EST – 3pm EST (New York) / 19:00 GMT – 20:00 GMT (London) / 8pm CET - 9pm CET (Berlin).

Regular contributor Jonathan Mandell delves into the worlds of August Osage County and The Sound of Music Live to discuss theater's relevancy – and whether we can count televised adaptions as theater.

Jay Scheib's adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Platnov titled Platonov, or The Disinherited merges with grunge culture-drugs, sex, and alcohol to take a look at values and viewpoints. 

Allison Vanouse writes about Disney Theatrical Enterprise's approach to theatermaking, and how high art and children's theater meet in their regional theater collaboration: The Jungle Book.

By 2003, Sophocles’ Antigone, a fifth century B.C. tragedy about a violent confrontation between a defiant young woman and an arrogant ruler, was one of the most widely adapted plays in Ireland.

Allison Vanouse writes about Pavement, an adaptation of the 1991 film, Boyz N the Hood at Jacob's Pillow Dance.

As an Aboriginal playwright, director, and more who goes project to project-theater to theater- Lisa Ravensbergen stitches all these identities together to find her own artistic home.

Victoria Tucci reflects on her time producing queered adaption of Romeo & Juliet, Juliet & Romeo, in the wake of the Marc Carson murder.

Andrew Alexander looks at Atlanta-based theatre company Saiah, which took on the challenge of making a sea and whale come alive for audiences in their adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

Adam Versenyi propses a national effort in the US to translate plays into English, and what this initation would look like