101 Stage Adaptations – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Bramble Theatre Company is thrilled to open the Bramble Arts Loft, a brand new peformance space in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood.

Learn more at brambletheatre.org.

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National Playwriting Month is approaching, and that means it's time for End of Play.®, the Dramatists Guild's annual month-long writing challenge for Playwrights, Composers, Lyricists, and Librettists! This is a segment of the End of Play.® interview Melissa had last year with Lily Dwoskin and Jordan Stovall from the Dramatists Guild.

Resources Mentioned
Episode 23
End of Play.®
Dramatists Guild

About Our Guests
Lily Dwoskin is a bookwriter, lyricist, & playwright based in New York. She is a graduate of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Her bookwriter/lyricist credits include Off Broadway: Turtle On A Fencepost at Theater 555 & The Scarlet Savior at St. Luke's Theatre. Other credits include: Hyena in Petticoats and The Aviatrix. Originally, Lily is from the greater Philadelphia region. Lily's work has been performed at St. Luke's, The Laurie Beechman Theatre, The Greenroom 42, Hedgerow Theatre Company, various universities and more. Lily works for & is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild of America and has worked as a director, dramaturg, teaching artist & stage manager.

Jordan Stovall is a playwright, arts administrator, & drag artist known as Wanda Whatever. They presently serve as the Director of Outreach & Institutional Partnerships for the Dramatists Guild, where they have worked since 2016. Their plays have been shortlisted & selected as Finalists for the Eugene O’Neill Playwrights Festival and Relentless Award, with productions in London and the US. As a drag artist, they are the founding producer of Time Out London Award-Nominated cabaret Boulangerie; and Fussy, a series of queer community gatherings. They can be seen on Pistol and Meet the Richardsons. They have performed in Bushwig Berlin & NYC, Sink the Pink, Clapham Grand, Royal Vauxhall Tavern, & other notable venues across London, NYC, & the US.

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No official episode this week, but Melissa will be back soon with all new interviews. 

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For another installment of "When the Production is the Adaptation," Melissa is joined by Marcia Milgrom Dodge aka "MMD" to discuss her production and revival of Disney's Beauty and the Beast at the Olney Theatre Center.   

In this episode, we discuss:

• The origins of the "MMD" moniker
• "Smuggling in deeper meaning"
• Redesigning and imagining a Disney-branded show
• How MMD has been a constant champion of diverse casting 

And more!

Resources Mentioned
Olney Theatre's production directed by MMD
Dramaturgy and research for MMD's production
Licensing the musical

About Our Guest
Marcia Milgrom Dodge is a Tony, Drama Desk & Astaire Award nominated director & choreographer for her “stirring & lovingly staged” Broadway/Kennedy Center revival of Ragtime. Most recently, MMD was the American Show Director for Tokyo Disneyland’s 40th Anniversary Parade Harmony In Color! For Television, MMD appeared as herself in Disney+ Encore!; choreographed The Muppets in an Emmy-winning episode of Sesame Street and choreographed Elmo & The Noodle Family in Elmo’s Wild West video, delighting children of all ages. MMD’s bold new approaches to classic plays & musicals-- plus a few world-premiere musicals-- have been seen worldwide, from major regional theatres throughout the USA & Canada to Fredericia, Denmark to Seoul, S. Korea to Blackpool, England and even Muskat, Oman. Devoted to developing the next generation of theatre artists, her Directing Musicals workshops are geared for early-career Directors and Actors as well as for Theatre Lovers. MMD is also wife to Tony, mother to Natasha & a proud member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society.

Connect with Our Guest
marciamilgromdodge.com
Read & Recommend Tony Dodge’s plays on New Play Exchange
Instagram

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In this episode, Melissa guides listeners through a comprehensive goal-setting strategy for playwrights and theatre makers so they can plan for a successful 2024, however they chose to define it.

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In this episode, Melissa guides listeners through an end-of-year self-inventory and reflection which will help set the stage for a 2024 goal-setting session.

***Sign up for the 101 Stage Adaptations Newsletter***

Connect with host Melissa Schmitz
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Ways to support the show:
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Christmas came early this year! We are dropping this episode a few days ahead of schedule to commemorate the 180th anniversary of the release of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
 
The multi-talented Lavina Jadhwani stops by to discuss her adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which was first produced when her script was discovered on New Play Exchange.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Adapting a well-known story for the stage, making it unique, and being faithful to the original text
• Lavina's approach to adapting for the stage
• How surviving cancer gave her a different perspective of her work
• the Bollywood film list Lavina curated for Melissa on the spot

And more!

Resources Mentioned
A Christmas Carol by Lavina Jadhwani is playing at the Guthrie and Penobscot Theatre during the 2023 holiday season.
New Play Exchange
Nothing For the Group substack

About Our Guest
Lavina Jadhwani is a Chicago-based director, playwright, and activist. Directing credits include Guthrie Theater, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, PlayMakers Rep, the Rep of St. Louis, Asolo Rep, Mixed Blood, the Neo-Futurists, the Gift, Teatro Vista, Silk Road Rising, and Rasaka Theatre Company, where she served as Artistic Director for seven years. As a playwright, her work has been seen at the Guthrie, the Goodman, the Gift, East West Players, Cincinnati Shakes, and Indianapolis Shakes, and more. Lavina serves on the boards of the National New Play Network and the Chicago Inclusion Project. She is a proud cancer survivor, dog mom, and child of immigrants. She got her BFA/MA at Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and her MFA at The Theatre School at DePaul University.

Connect with Our Guest
lavinajadhwani.com
Read & Recommend Lavina’s plays on New Play Exchange
Facebook
Instagram

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Ways to support the show:
- Buy Me a Coffee
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This week Hollywood screenwriter Greg Taylor stops by the show! Greg wrote the scripts for the 90s kids' classics, Harriet the Spy and Jumanji, as well as one of Melissa's favorite holiday films, Prancer, which Greg later adapted for the stage.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How the late great Cloris Leachman influenced Greg's script 
• The reindeer in the film vs the stage play
• How screenwriters and playwrights are treated differently
• Adapting novels to screenplays and screenplays to stage plays

And more!

Resources Mentioned
Prancer film
The Rose Theater
Prancer script from Plays for New Audiences

Prancer is playing at ALT, WV's Apollo Civic Theatre, and The Sauk during the 2023 holiday season.

***We have a gift for 101 Stage Adaptations listeners! Download a  FREE PDF perusal copy of Prancer  here using the discount code is 101Prancer. Valid until December 1, 2024 and only valid on Prancer.*** 

About Our Guest
Greg Taylor was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is a screenwriter, author and playwright.  His screenwriting credits include Prancer, Jumanji, and Harriet the Spy.

Greg is married, with two children, Jessica and Ian, and two grandchildren. From the time he and his wife, Joanne, had their first child, Greg has concentrated on writing stories for families, children and young adults.

For his adaptation of the stage version of Prancer, which premiered at the Rose Children’s Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2016, Greg received the Omaha Theater Arts Guild award for Outstanding New Script. Since Prancer’s premiere and initial run, the play has been performed at community theaters throughout the US.

Connect with host Melissa Schmitz
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Ways to support the show:
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Mike Dailey & Jacob Combs join Melissa this week to talk about their long-running holiday musical, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why Strawdog Theatre decided to adapt this beloved children's book
• Adding framing devices and length to a short story
• Casting a show that needs musicians, actors, singers, and acrobatic types
• How the music changes every year with each new cast 

And more!

Resources Mentioned
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins playing through Dec 23, 2023
Strawdog Theatre

About Our Guests
Michael Dailey has been a Strawdog company member since 1997. He has appeared as an actor in 24 Strawdog productions. Writing credits include three radio plays presented as part of Radio Theatre 7, co-writer on the late-night series The Adventures of Picklebot and Lawfer and script editor for Strawdog’s productions of 1001 Afternoons in Chicago, Julius Caesar and Measure for Measure. As an actor, he’s enjoyed working around town with Lyric Opera, Stage Left, Steppenwolf, About Face, Shattered Globe, Eclipse and Writer’s Theatre, to name a few. He’s a proud graduate of Illinois State University, the Second City Conservatory and was a Steppenwolf Acting Fellowship recipient.

Jacob Combs is a writer, director, and composer based in Los Angeles. Most recently, he was part of the writers room for the Netflix comedy BLOCKBUSTER, and he is currently developing several TV projects with showrunners Vanessa Ramos and Jackie Clarke. Previously, Jacob spent a 6-year stint at Pixar Animation Studios in a variety of writing, development and production roles. He wrote on an untitled feature in development at Pixar and was part of the writers’ room for an upcoming, original episodic series. He also wrote several episodes of the Emmy-nominated Disney+ documentary series Inside Pixar. A lifelong theater nerd, Jacob wrote the music & lyrics for Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (based on the beloved children’s book by Eric Kimmel), which has been produced annually since 2018 by Chicago’s Strawdog Theatre.
Follow Jacob on Instagram.

Connect with host Melissa Schmitz
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101 Stage Adaptations
Follow the Podcast on Facebook & Instagram
Read Melissa's plays on New Play Exchange
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Ways to support the show:
- Buy Me a Coffee
- Tell us your thoughts in our Listener Survey!
- Give a 5-Star rating
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- Send this episode to a friend
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Creators: Host your podcast through Buzzsprout using my affiliate link & get a $20 credit on your paid account. Let your fans directly support you via Buy Me a Coffee (affiliate link).

Kate Hamill stops by the show to talk about Dracula, one of her many stage adpatations. This conversation is a full meal on taking risks, making writing fun, advocacy, and feminism.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Kate became a playwright on a bet with her friend
• The dramatic question she crafted for Dracula and some of her other works
• Intentionally writing fun characters and feminist plays
• Advocacy, unions, and surviving toxic behavior in the industry

And more!

Resources Mentioned
Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really
Dracula is playing through December 24, 2023 at Portland Center Stage

About Our Guest
 Kate Hamill is an actor/playwright and she was the 2017 Wall Street Journal Playwright of the Year. Her work includes her play Pride & Prejudice, at Primary Stages / HVSF, Sense & Sensibility at Bedlam; Vanity Fair at the Pearl Theatre, Mansfield Park at Northlight , Little Women at Primary Stages and the Jungle Theatre, Dracula at Classic Stage Company, Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B at Kansas City Rep, Emma at the Guthrie, and The Scarlet Letter. Her plays have been produced off-Broadway, at A.R.T., the Guthrie, Seattle Rep, PlayMaker’s, Folger, OSF, Trinity Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Dorset Theatre Festival, Shakespeare Theatre of DC, Dallas Theater Center, Kansas City Rep, Long Wharf, A.C.T., Actors Theater of Louisville, & others. Her play The Little Fellow (or: The Queen of Tarts Tells All) is currently at the Cygnet Theater, and Emma at the Denver Center next year. She is currently developing a new adaptation of The Odyssey, a Christmas play called Scrooge for Senate; and several original plays including The Piper and The Light and The Dark. Kate has been one of the most-produced playwrights nationwide every season from 2017-2023.

Connect with Our Guest
kate-hamill.com
Twitter/X
Instagram

Connect with host Melissa Schmitz
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Ways to support the show:
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Creators: Host your podcast through Buzzsprout using my affiliate link & get a $20 credit on your paid account. Let your fans directly support you via Buy Me a Coffee (affiliate link).