Laura Penn

We are currently in the midst of planning for the current production of The American Cycle, The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck’s epic, Pulitzer Prize-winning story of Tom Joad and his journey across America. Community programming around The Grapes of Wrath will look at such issues as the devastating economic hardship of the Great Depression, the lives of migrant workers, and the rise of the labor movement. In addition, we will focus on environmental awareness around the natural resources of Puget Sound and Eastern Washington. Steinbeck’s dramatic evocation of the Dust Bowl’s “scarred earth” is mirrored today in concerns about our own ecosystem and Washington State’s connections to our land and water. INTIMAN is working collaboratively with leading environmental groups and civic leaders in our region to explore this parallel and share resources for how we can be responsible stewards of our environment.

We are also beginning work on the 2006 production, a new adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son. The five plays in the Cycle are classic texts that speak to questions of American character, identity and history, and we intentionally began with two relatively “simple” titles: Our Town and The Grapes of Wrath. We selected Native Son because it looks at racism in this country and the effects of poverty and violence on individuals and on American culture. We want to really raise the bar on the dialogue we are having with our audiences, and hope to have over the course of the full five years. In seeking to commission a new adaptation of Native Son, we are not intending to update or do a radical new interpretation of this landmark novel. We will remain faithful to both the intention and the context of Richard Wright’s masterpiece, but see an opportunity to create a vital, bold and important new stage adaptation on which the story of Bigger Thomas can reach today’s audiences.

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