The Naples Players Presents the Great Gatsby

THE GREAT GATSBY: DECADENCE, OBSESSION, AND DANGER

The Naples Players (TNP) and Lake Michigan Credit Union present The Great Gatsby in Blackburn Hall October 2 – 27, 2019, a stage adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz-Era classic novel, filled with decadence, obsession, and danger.

Under the authority of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s estate, playwright Simon Levy adapted The Great Gatsby—a novel long heralded as a cornerstone of American literature. Translating the iconic story of Jay Gatsby to the stage proved challenging. “When we read a novel, we imagine. When we watch a play, we see. That which is elusive in a book becomes corporeal on stage,” playwright Simon Levy said. “An actor can’t play mystery or being mysterious, he has to play actions and wants, so there’s no getting around  that on stage.”

So, the playwright set out to bring the romanticized language and imagery of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece to the stage. This process required Levy to immerse himself in Fitzgerald’s work, the craft of theatre, and the scholarship about the novel’s symbolism, metaphors, and themes. Inevitably, the playwright hit
a wall trying to channel Fitzgerald himself and was forced to look inward.

“I realized that, ultimately, I needed to know who I was in this adaptation. What sang to me? Where was my heart inside these characters, these enormous ideas?” Levy asked. “What did I want to say about Illusion vs. Reality, the pursuit of the American Dream, greed, the advantaged vs. the disadvantaged, West vs. East, disillusionment and the irrecoverable past, and most importantly, love and betrayal?”

The Great Gatsby’s plot of illusion, love, pursuit of the American Dream, adultery, betrayal, death, disappointment, and the need to “beat on” remains the same. “The success of the stage adaptation will not be so much in what is said but how it is presented, so that it honors the themes and symbols and
metaphors that make this the great American novel.”

Tickets for The Great Gatsby are $40 and are available now exclusively through TNP Subscription Packages or via Bye Bye Birdie individual ticket sales available September 3, 2019 through the TNP Box Office at (239) 263-7990 or NaplesPlayers.org.

The Naples Players (TNP) Sugden Community Theatre is Naples’ oldest and premier theatre group and a vital part of the exciting experience of Downtown Naples. Celebrating the Diane & Sid Davis 66th Season, and as one of the top theatres in the country, they offer a variety of plays and musicals in three  intimate spaces, Blackburn Hall, the Tobye Studio Theatre and outside Baker Stage – all located in one building on Fifth Avenue South.

The KidzAct program, Southwest Florida’s premier youth theatre program offers a performing arts  education wing, with top quality productions as well as in-depth skills classes for children. Adult education classes are offered throughout the year for skilled professionals to first time performers. Readers Theatre offers an opportunity to hear new works as well as rare one acts and classics.

The Naples Players continually seeks to enrich, educate, and entertain the community through a superior theatre experience. TNP is inspiring passion for the performing arts through lifelong opportunities to participate in vibrant theatrical experiences. The 66th Season, generously sponsored by Diane and Sid Davis, is filled with spectacular musicals including She Loves Me and Bye Bye Birdie – alongside heartfelt comedies Escanaba in Da Moonlight, Making God Laugh and                                                                              Becky’s New Car – as well as true stories of strong women in                                                                                Sky and Calendar Girls, and the romantic Jazz-era stage                                                                                        adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby.

The 2019 -2020 Theatre Season

The Great Gatsby
October 2 – October 27, 2019
Blackburn Hall

Escanaba in Da Moonlight
October 23 – November 17, 2019
Tobye Studio Theatre

She Loves Me
November 27 – December 22, 2019
Blackburn Hall

Making God Laugh
January 15 – February 9, 2020
Blackburn Hall

Silent Sky
February 5 – March 1, 2020
Tobye Studio Theatre

Bye Bye Birdie
March 4 -April 5, 2020
Blackburn Hall

Becky’s New Car
April 1 – 26, 2020
Tobye Studio Theatre

Calendar Girls
April 29 – May 24, 2020
Blackburn Hall