One Possible Adaptation

For a book like Krik? Krak!, there are many possible adaptations. One that really interested me was a kind of book club that the various characters would join and come together for. I would think that it would be a Haitian book club, where they read books by Haitian authors, or about their culture and background. This would give a reason for the older women, like the mother from New York Day Women to be a part of it. The scene would start right before a club meeting starting with the various members coming in and getting settled in their seats. This would allow the audience to get familiar with the characters as well as introduce them. The majority of the characters would already know each other from previous meetings so the beginning of the scene would be a time for them to catch up on each other’s lives. People  already part of the club would be the mother from “Caroline’s Wedding,” the mother from “New York Day Women,” Edwidge Danticat, the father from “Children of the Sea,” the father from “1937,” the girl from “Seeing Things Simply,” and even possibly the boyfriend from “Children of the Sea.” I think it would be interesting to have the mother from “Night Women” and either Grace or Caroline from “New York Day Women be a new member for the club. This would be their first meeting and seeing the various characters react to each other would be very compelling.

"Another aspect I would like to explore would be the backstories of the characters. Although they are from the same ‘place,’ sharing their stories and childhoods with the youngers members. I think that the diversity in the group could create a cool dynamic onstage. Each character’s temperament is different and to see them all react about the same thing would be interesting. Other than the main idea of a book club, I also wanted to explore the relationships between the characters themselves. For example, I think if the girl from “Seeing Things Simply” had already known Grace from college or from a party or something would be cool. As a frequent audience member, I enjoy it when the characters have other, inner conflicts that they cannot share within themselves, or even with another character onstage. It creates a powerful connection between the two characters, which is interesting to follow. I think that besides Grace with the girl from “Seeing Things Seemly,” it would be very interesting if the woman from “Night Women” knew the father from “Children of the Sea” from one of her past ‘jobs.’ The characters have to really understand where their character is coming from, in order to create that connection. A third aspect of staging and blocking that I do not know would be possible would be to involve texting somehow. In my head, at first, I imagined, all others characters frozen while a character (we’ll use Grace as an example) Grace is saying her text while reacting and responded to the response. I currently do not know how it would be staging, or if it could even be done, but I think that it is a cool concept that would be refreshing.

I think that this setting allows the various characters to react to each other. For an audience, it allows them to create a comprehensive identity for each character, both in terms of them as an individual, and in relation to their fellow actors as well.