Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis
In a dramatic adaption by Steven Berkoff

and further adapted as music-theatre by Susan Galbraith

at Capital Fringe Trinidad Theatre
1358 Florida Ave NE Wash DC

April 29th – May 17th 2015
Wednesdays – Saturdays 7:30 p.m.,
Sunday Matinees 2:30 p.m.

As part of  Alliance for New Music-Theatre’s 2014/2015-season theme –The Outsider’s Outsider
 

Fresh from their popular and critically acclaimed presentation of The \Václav Havel Project in Washington, DC and The Prague Fringe Festival, Alliance for New Music-Theatre presented a dark and comical interpretation of Franz Kafka’s iconic work through the lens of the season’s theme, The Outsider’s Outsider. Kafka, the son of a German-speaking, Jewish family living as outsiders in Czech-speaking Prague, imaginatively creates an alter-ego figure, Gregor, also the son of a dogmatic father and otherwise claustrophobic family, who inexplicably wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant insect, and is further ostracized as an outsider living in the midst of his family.

Director Susan Galbraith brings together this highly collaborative and eclectic performance, combining movement, singing, and speech to explore Kafka’s relevance to today’s American audiences. The musical world of this music-theatre adaptation of Metamorphosis includes traditional Jewish melodies and music developed by the Ensemble including cellists Yvonne Caruthers and Schuyler Slack, with songs developed and led by vocal coach Alison Leadbetter-Hines. Designer Joey Wade and animator, Janet Antich, create a complementary stage world combining animation, inspired by Kafka’s drawings, that interacts with the performers’ highly physicalized style to convey the importance of the writer’s artistic imagination. The central role of Gregor was played by Ari Jacobson, and his other family members included David Millstone (Father), Pamela Bierly Jusino (Mother), and Lily Kerrigan (Sister Greta).

In Sept 2014 we had 10 performances Metamorphosis in partnership with the Embassy of the Czech Republic’s Mutual Inspirations Festival, an annual initiative focusing on seminal artistic cross-fertilizations between Czech and American cultures. We remounted this production with 16 performances in DC, before we took it to the Prague Fringe Festival in late May, 2015.

Metamorphosis was presented by special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC

Read what they are saying about our production of Kafka’s Metamorphosis:
 

DCMetroTheatreArts –Magic Time – “the remarkable mashup that results not only aptly captures Kafka’s strange parable of a man utterly estranged, it captivates and fascinates way beyond words.”
 

In a DC Minute –“I was reminded of the effect good theater has on my soul.”
 

DCist “The production does an excellent job of capturing the eerie humor of Kafka’s original work.”