This 4-week course will give students a chance to begin an adaptation of an existing work: one of their own stories, essays, or poems, or a piece of writing (or film) by another artist. The course will begin with a discussion of the nature of adaptation – why adapt, and what constraints and opportunities we face in the act of adapting – and explore the specific elements and power of adapting for the stage.
In preparation for the first class, students will be asked to read an adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando by the playwright Sarah Ruhl (text provided) and come with at least the seed of an idea for their own adaptation. Week two will give students the chance to discuss what a more formally experimental script looks like after reading Declan Greene’s stage adaptation of the film Melancholia (text provided). They will also have the chance to respond to some writing prompts in class for their own adaptation (such as writing a monologue for a relatively silent or absent character in the original text).
The final two weeks of workshop will give students the chance to bring in pages (up to 10) from their own adaptations, read them aloud with the group, and receive feedback and questions from their instructor and peers.
Kristen Field is a queer, non-binary writer from Melbourne, Australia. She's taught at Northwestern University, Western Michigan University, and The Porch, and her work can be found in Hayden's Ferry Review's The Dock, Feels Blind Literary, Qu Lit Mag, and other publications. Her full-length play sex/work premiered in Memphis at Playhouse on the Square in January of this year, directed by Jamie Boller, and she was a resident playwright at Renaissance Theaterworks in Milwaukee this past May. She's currently pursuing a PhD and working as the Drama Editor at Third Coast Magazine.
