Theater News

Stage Adaptation of Dead Poets Society on Tap for Classic Stage Company

The theater’s season will also include a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s ”Pacific Overtures”.

Robin Williams in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society.
Robin Williams in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society.
(© Touchstone Pictures)

John Doyle will direct productions of Dead Poets Society and Pacific Overtures during his first season as artistic director of off-Broadway's Classic Stage Company.

The season will launch in October 2016 with the world premiere of Dead Poets Society, based on the iconic 1989 film that starred Robin Williams. Tom Schulman, who won an Academy Award for his screenplay, will pen the stage adaptation of the tale of an all-boys preparatory school and the unconventional professor who inspires his students to live with passion and defy conformity.

In January 2017, Classic Stage will present David Ives' adaptation of Pierre Corneille's The Liar, directed by Michael Kahn. The work marks the fifth collaboration between Ives and CSC, following its productions of Venus in Fur, The School for Lies, The Heir Apparent, and his translation of Yasmina Reza's A Spanish Play.

The season will conclude in April 2017 with Doyle's new revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Pacific Overtures. The work follows the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry in Japan to open up trade relations with the United States. Doyle has directed productions of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Company, and Passion.

Dates and casting for the productions will be revealed in the coming months.