Elmira Little Theatre has announced the title of their May 2007 production, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This adaptation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel was co-written by local author Joe Edkin who will also direct the production.

"I am really looking forward to this. I appreciate Elmira Little Theatre giving me the opportunity to bring this show to my hometown audience," said Edkin. "The script was first written and produced in 1997 for the Pax Amicus Theatre in Budd Lake, New Jersey. The world premiere was directed by Stan Barber, with whom I co-wrote the script. I played the role of John Utterson, the hero of the original story. It's hard to believe that was ten years ago."

The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde takes the place of the previously announced Quarry Farm Tonight! as the fifth and final production of ELT's 2006-2007 season. "The director asked to withdraw the show after our season brochures were printed and sent out," explained Jerry Holleran, the Chairman of ELT's Play Selection Committee. "We were disappointed to lose the show and went into overdrive to come up with a replacement piece we could announce at performances of The Spitfire Grill." The Spitfire Grill, the first show of the ELT season, opened August 4th and has three more performances on August 10, 11, and 12th at the Clemens Center's Mandeville Hall.

The selection of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde fulfilled many of the Play Selection Committee's goals. "We wanted a period piece to round out the season," Holleran said. "The fact this version was co-written by a local author makes it even more appealing. ELT is truly a community theater, dedicated to supporting local talent, whether they are actors, directors, designers, or writers." In the first thirty years of its existence, ELT sponsored competitions for local authors to pen one act plays. The winning scripts were then given full scale production. 2007 marks the first time in its history that ELT will mount a full-length play by a local author as part of its main season.

Holleran expressed enthusiasm for the script. "The Jeckyll and Hyde story is timeless and this script is truly dynamic. Joe and Stan remained true to the original story, yet added a couple of interesting twists to address modern concerns about the roots of criminal behavior."

Joe Edkin

Joe Edkin, who graduated from Horseheads High School, is a professional comic book writer with credits at DC, Marvel, and Archie Comics. He moved back to Elmira last summer, but when he worked on the Jekyll and Hyde script, he was living in Hackettstown, New Jersey, and teaching at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, Inc., a school for aspiring cartoonists and animators in Dover, NJ. "I came to co-write The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by circumstance, not by design," Edkin admits. "I had seen an audition notice for a production of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and decided to try out. After all, what self-respecting ham wouldn't want to take on the role of Jekyll and Hyde? When I got to the audition, the director, Stan Barber, announced that he had not found a script that he really liked. We were going to audition using an available script and with a scene that he had written. His intention was for the cast to create the show during the rehearsal process, using the script as a starting point."

Edkin was offered the role of John Utterson, who in the original novel, is the main character. Unsure of how the process was going to work, Edkin tentatively accepted the part. When he went to the "read-through," he discovered that there was still no real script and that twelve people had been cast. This came as a surprise as the script director Barber was starting from included only eight characters. "Stan went through and explained the characters he envisioned each cast member playing. He also had some plot elements in mind. But nothing was fully formed. I couldn't imagine how he was going to pull all of this together in the two months prior to opening night."

Edkin, who often approaches scriptwriting as puzzle solving, found himself faced with a fascinating challenge. He had been introduced to character concepts and unformed plot threads, pieces of a puzzle that had to be put together to create a fully-formed story. "I got home that night from the read-through and sat at my computer. I wanted to try to bring some sort of order to these great core ideas Stan had. Mind you--I didn't ask if I should do this. I just sat down and did it. I wrote bios for all of the characters and worked out a plot outline based on Stan's concepts and Stevenson's novel. Fortunately, I had read Robert Louis Stevenson's original novel before auditions, so the source material was fresh in my mind."

Edkin returned to the theater the next day and presented his ideas to Barber. "Stan really liked what I'd come up with and asked if I wanted to co-write the script with him. That wasn't on my mind at the time. I was just trying to help clarify his ideas and move the process along." However, he couldn't help but be intrigued by the offer. "I'd invested a lot of time and thought into the characters, plot, and concepts. I wanted to see it through, but before I agreed, I wanted to be sure that I could bring something new to the table. What would be the point of doing yet another adaptation of a well-known story if I couldn't come up with a fresh perspective? I had to give that some thought."

And so Edkin went back home and did just that. Finally, he came up with some key concepts that he felt would present a fresh look at the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde while remaining true to Stevenson's themes. He pitched them to Barber who loved them, and so the two began work. "Stan and I each wrote separate scenes," Edkin said. "We would write in the morning, meet in the afternoon to read our work aloud and make revisions, I'd take Stan's scenes and rewrite them so that the authorial voice remained consistent stylistically, and in the evening we'd present the new pages to the cast for rehearsal. The script was written over a period of ten days while we were rehearsing it!" Edkin admits he'd never want to work that way again. "But, despite the speed at which it was created, I couldn't have been happier with the script. The audiences loved it. Our approach was gothic melodrama with a lot of shocks and scares, albeit with a rich vein of dark humor. We didn't play it for laughs, though. It's not a show for young children."

The script was revived in 2002 by the On Broadway Theater in Coos Bay, Oregon. "Following the original production, I'd put scenes from the script on my website for people to read. I was contacted by Janet Horton-Payne, a director for OBT, inquiring if the rights were available to produce the show and what the royalties were. I hadn't really given much thought to the question of royalties. I told her that I'd be happy to grant her the right to produce the play and, in lieu of royalties, I suggested the theater fly me out to Oregon for production week so I could meet the cast, offer insight, and help them with the publicity. She agreed, and so I went to work making revisions to the script. As well as it played in the original production, there were things I wanted to tweak for the revival. I was happy with the results and had a great time meeting the cast and crew in Coos Bay."

The show will be produced again this year at the Sight and Sound theater in Lousville, Kentucky in a production directed by John Hetzel. "This is another case of a director reading the scenes on my website and e-mailing me. It's a small company with an extremely limited budget. They can't afford to bring me in for their production, but I was happy to give them permission to produce it. I like to support small theater groups. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to see their version, but I'm delighted that someone else is producing it. I hope it's a great success for them. They'll be working from the script I'd prepared for the Coos Bay group."

And what version with ELT be presenting? "Well, I've already started making small changes to the dialog. I may have to make structural changes to suit whatever our final venue is, but I don't anticipate making any major alterations." He may also make changes based on his cast. "What I want to do as director is truly incorporate the cast and the crew into the creative process. It's not often that actors get to work with the writer of a script, so this provides an chance for them to have real input in the development of the characters and the dialog. If I like their suggestions, I can incorporate them. You're not allowed to make changes when you work from a script obtained through a publisher. I hope this will be an exciting opportunity for everyone involved--including the audience!"

Elmira Little Theatre will announce the production dates and location later in the season. For more information about The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and upcoming Elmira Little Theatre events, please visit www.elmiralittletheatre.com. In the mean time, Joe Edkin will be appearing in The Spitfire Grill this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights at the Clemens Center's Mandeville Hall and will be stage managing ELT's October production, Play It Again, Sam.