In the fall of 2011, the Contemporary Theater Company launched Testing, Testing 1234 in coordination with South Kingstown High School’s drama program. The yearly production offers students the opportunity to work on short plays under the guidance of directors from the company. I was invited to be one of these directors.

In the interest of giving the students in my charge an exciting experience they would not otherwise have had, I decided that we would adapt Die Hamletmaschine (1977)–a post-modern play by the East German playwright, Heiner Müller. It is a radically unconventional, deliberately obtuse work: the script is composed mainly of large unbroken blocks of text with almost no punctuation, and with no indication of what is a stage direction and what is dialog, or who is speaking, or even how many characters there are. In writing a play with so many fundamental details left unspecified, Müller’s intent was to create an “open text”–one in which readers were required to interpret in a way that made them coauthors of the drama. In choosing to adapt the work collaboratively with my group, I sought to challenge them with the idea that the humblest interpretation–down to the act of reading itself–is a creative act.

The students–among them, Sami Avigdor, Paul Hughes, Brynne Sawyer, and Winfield Swanson–rose to the challenge, undaunted. They were empowered to create an unforgettable theatrical experience for everyone involved: a Hamletmachine featuring three Hamlets, two Ophelias, spray paint, shattered crutches, a tug-of-war, a revolutionary uprising, and a live mummification.

Thanks to videographer Rosemary Simpson, I am able to present a record of the production for your consideration in all it’s messy glory: