University Theatre Premieres Stage Adaptation of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick"

December 4, 2003

The University of Richmond's theatre department recently premiered a stage adaptation of Herman Melville's classic novel, "Moby Dick," written by a professor and an alumnus-playwright.

Theatre professor Walter Schoen and former student Matt Di Cintio, a Minneapolis-based freelance writer, completed the script last spring. The University Players, along with artists-in-residence David Bridgewater and Ray Taalib-Deen, performed "Moby Dick" on the Modlin Center for the Arts' main stage Nov. 20-23.

Neither Schoen, a Richmond faculty member since 1991, nor Di Cintio had previously adapted a novel for the stage.

Schoen said he and Di Cintio worked to preserve the 1851 book's original wording while enabling the actors to tell the story. Ninety-five percent of the script came directly from the novel. The playwrights also worked with the actors throughout rehearsals to hone the script.

Alyson Wepplo, a Woodbridge, Va., senior played Father Mapple, Dr. Bunger and The Storyteller in the show. Wepplo said working with the writers, building an exact replica of a whaling ship--destroyed in the final scene--and learning 19th-century shipboard practices stretched the cast's talents.

Set designer Reed West's "Pequod" came crashing down at the close of each show.

"I looked forward to that last scene during every performance," Wepplo said. "Because we set up the ship ourselves earlier in the play, seeing the mast and sails and all of the ropes come crashing down is awesome. It was the release of everything we built up during the rest of the play."

"Moby Dick" played to packed houses each night of its run.

To see a brief video excerpt from the play, visit http://helix.richmond.edu/ramgen/alumni/mobydicklan.rm (fast connection) or http://helix.richmond.edu/ramgen/alumni/mobydick56k.rm (slow connection).