When writing an adaptation, what are your feelings about fidelity to the original source material?

I’ve written adaptations of children’s books for the stage. In those instances, young audiences often have a very strong attachment to the original story, even to the point of knowing every line by heart. Everything that deviates from the original material has to feel right to those superfans. When there’s something new added to the adaptation that actually has roots in the original, that can be thrilling to the audience.

Subscribe to gain full access to The Dramatist Issue Archive.

Join and become a Dramatists Guild Member, Business Subscriber or subscribe to the magazine with an annual plan for unlimited access.

Guild Members receive our magazine as a benefit of membership!

View Options

Lee Cataluna

’s Heart Strings won a ReImagine Grant from TYA/USA in 2021 and was produced at Atlantic Theater in 2022. Current commissions include Sons of Maui for San Francisco Playhouse, the national BIPOC Superhero project, and Emma Riot for Arena Stage. She was commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse to write Home of the Brave for the 2017 POP Tour.

Kate Hamill

is an actor/playwright. She has been one of the most-produced playwrights nationwide from 2017-2022. Adaptations include Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Vanity Fair, Little Women, Dracula (a feminist revenge fantasy), Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B, Emma, The Odyssey, Scrooge for Senate, The Scarlet Letter, and more.
www.kate-hamill.com

Mindi Dickstein

has written many musical adaptations, including lyrics for the Broadway musical Little Women and lyrics for Benny & Joon, based on the MGM film. Current works include Witnesses (voted Best Production, San Diego Theater Critics Circle) and Maiden Voyage.

Tim J. Lord

is the inaugural recipient of the Lark-Apothetae Fellowship for a playwright with a disability. His plays have been produced at the Public Theater, Round House Theatre, and the Kennedy Center, among others. Tim is a graduate of UC San Diego and currently teaches for DGI and at NYU.

Matthew Spangler

’s plays have been produced on Broadway, in London’s West End, off-Broadway, at the Dubai Opera House, and at many theatres around the world. His adaptations include The Kite Runner, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Albatross (from the poem “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”), Tortilla Curtain, and many others. www.matthewspangler.org

Jeffrey Hatcher

’s plays have been produced on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in theatres throughout the U.S. and around the world. He has adapted works by Henry James, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Conan Doyle, Nikolai Gogol, Ben Jonson, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Kennedy Toole, and Frederick Knott, including The Turn of the Screw, The Government Inspector, The Alchemist, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Confederacy of Dunces, Wait Until Dark, and Dial M for Murder.

Related Dramatist(s)