2-Day Online Workshop
ADAPTING A CLASSICAL SCRIPT
With JEFFREY HATCHER
Saturday, February 1 & Saturday, February 8, 2025
2:00 PM ET - 5:00 PM ET
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Location | Zoom
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Class size is limited to 10 participants | $275 per student
Is there a classical play or story you are looking to adapt? Are you looking for some inspiration for our Short New Play Festival?
Learn how to sharpen the dialogue, tighten dramatic structure, and flesh out characters in this two-day workshop led by renowned playwright, screenwriter, and adaptor Jeffrey Hatcher. Open to both experienced and fledgling playwrights, we welcome projects at all stages of development.
Essential Question:
How do you adapt plays from other languages or from different eras to be compelling for modern audiences? How do you make the script so compelling it has to be produced? How do you craft and adapt plots to be compelling and driven by the needs of captivating characters?
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Course Objectives:
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Clarify the plot so it unfolds like a mystery and keeps audiences in suspense.
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How do you combine characters and tracks to help make the play more compelling and play more producible
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Create dialogue that moves action and defines character.
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Activate the theatrical potential of the adaptation by integrating spectacle into the script.
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Enduring Understandings:
The first responsibility of any adaptation is to interest, engage, and delight its spectators. Plays are about people—about human nature and the questions of our hearts. Strong plots have a beginning, middle, and an end; they are driven by fascinating people pursuing tangible needs. We learn from the plays of the past even as we adapt them. Plays are crafted, designed, planned, and personal.
Instructor:
JEFFREY HATCHER BROADWAY: Never Gonna Dance (book). OFF-BROADWAY: Three Viewings and A Picasso at Manhattan Theatre Club; The Government Inspector, The Alchemist and Arden of Faversham (with Kathryn Walat) at Red Bull; Scotland Road and The Turn of the Screw at Primary Stages; Lucky Duck (book w/Bill Russell) at the New Victory; Tuesdays with Morrie (with Mitch Albom) at The Minetta Lane; Ten Chimneys at Peccadillo, Neddy at American Place, Fellow Travelers at Manhattan Punchline. OTHER PLAYS/THEATERS: Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Mrs. Mannerly, Murderers, Cousin Bette, Smash, Key Largo (with Andy Garcia), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Holmes and Watson, A Confederacy of Dunces, Dial M for Murder and others at the Guthrie, the Geffen, Old Globe, Yale Rep, Seattle Rep, Huntington, South Coast Rep, Arizona Theater Company, Indiana Rep, Children’s Theater Company, Illusion, Denver Center, Philadelphia Theater Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Milwaukee Rep, Northlight, Westport Playhouse, Actors Theater of Louisville and dozens more in the U.S. and abroad. FILM: Stage Beauty, Casanova, The Duchess, Mr. Holmes and The Good Liar. TV: episodes of Columbo and The Mentalist. GRANTS/AWARDS: NEA, TCG, Lila Wallace Fund, Rosenthal New Play Prize, Frankel Award, Charles MacArthur Fellowship Award, McKnight Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Barrymore Award Best New Play and 2013 Ivey Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member and/or alumnus of the Playwrights’ Center, New Dramatists and the WGA.
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Schedule:
Saturday, February 1 | 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Working with Jeffrey Hatcher online.
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Saturday, February 8 | 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Working with Jeffrey Hatcher online.
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Preparation:
You should have an adaptation project in mind to discuss.
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Materials:
A journal is recommended to record notes and observations.
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Concerns? Questions?
Contact Nathan Winkelstein.
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All of our teachers are committed to these classes. As working artists, unexpected conflicts may arise. If this were to happen, Red Bull would strive to provide an equally qualified replacement to ensure the quality of your experience. We thank you in advance for this understanding.