A fairy tale for grown-ups: Playwright Dan O'Brien makes a stop at UMass

By MELISSA GARBER Bulletin Contributing Writer

Published on February 29, 2008

Once upon a time a German knight forsook his fiance for a clever water sprite. In return for the sprite's affection, he was forced to vow loyalty to her or die. This is the story that unfolds in New York playwright Dan O'Brien's adaptation of Jean Giraudoux' "Ondine."

"It's my take on Giraudoux' play, which is in turn his take on a particular strand of West European folklore," O'Brien said.

The University of Massachusetts department of theater will premiere O'Brien's "Ondine" on Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. at the Rand Theater. The show continues Feb 29, March 1, 6, and 7 at 8 p.m., with a matinee on March 8 at 2 p.m.

O'Brien has taught playwriting at Princeton University, Brown University, SUNY Purchase, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, Primary Stages, Gotham Writers' Workshop, and his own private workshop in New York City. This semester he is the inaugural recipient of the Carl Djerassi Distinguished Fellowship in Playwriting at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

O'Brien will participate in a panel discussion on "The Art of Stage Adaptation and Translation: Playwrights and the American Stage" Feb. 28 at 4:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Center, Room 204. Panelists include Paul Walsh, who translated Henrik Ibsen's, "Hedda Gabler" and "The Master Builder,"; and Harley Erdman, who collaborated with Lauryn Sasso on a translation of Pedro Calderon de la Barca's "Life is a Dream." They will discuss the process of translating classic foreign dramas for modern viewers.

Of his own adaptation O'Brien said, "I simply adapted it because I loved it, and all of the existing American-English translations and adaptations seemed dated to me."

After the Feb. 29 performance, there will be a question and answer session with O'Brien and other members of the production.

"It's a fairy tale for grown-ups (and for some discerning children too) that deals with the theme of love, and specifically that transformation of romantic love into something deeper, more complicated, more mysterious," O'Brien said. "In this more complicated, more mysterious," O'Brien said. "In this way Giraudoux's play struck me as a universal tale."

During O'Brien's visit, the university also presents a staged reading of his "The Cherry Sister's Revisited" on March 1 at 2 p.m., in the Curtain Theater at the Fine Arts Center. The reading, based on a true story of five sisters from Marion, Iowa who took the Vaudeville world by storm with the collective awfulness of their talent, is free and open to the public. O'Brien will be available for a question and answer period after the reading.

Tickets for "Ondine" are $12 for the general public and $6 for students and seniors. They can be reserved at the Fine Arts Center Box Office, 545-2511.