Theatrical Adaptation

Changed for Dramatic Purposes

Stories change each time we tell them, and storytellers are changed by the stories we tell – particularly when those stories are enacted for the stage or translated to the screen. How are stories changed “for dramatic purposes,” and for what reasons? What are those purposes, and who chooses what to change – and why? Do audiences expect to see familiar stories or factual history faithfully reproduced by theatre artists, or do they come to the theatre to encounter old stories in a new way? Actors, directors, and designers know that the process of interpreting an existing script involves transforming a playwright’s words into images, sounds, and action. What obligation does the artist bear in adaptation, and what opportunities does adaptation present?

Participants in this seminar will encounter plays that have been changed through adaptation. We will examine how production changes a script, how film or video translates a source text, and how shifting genres or styles alter a story. In particular we will investigate texts that have been adapted for the stage and from the stage, and explore how “dramatic purposes” guide a writer’s or a director’s choices when shaping a script. Our materials will include source texts, scripts, and films, and attending live performances together on and off campus; we will also have the chance to investigate the production process itself, through participation or as observers. Students will read, write about, and discuss various texts and productions, and also have the opportunity to write, analyze, or enact brief adaptations of their own. We will examine who changes texts, what changes, and how; in particular, we will ask why these changes are made in the process of adapting stories for the stage.

posted by Kirk Andrew Everist @ 9:37 AM