Kite Runner Stage Adaptation to Debut in San Jose

The San Jose Mercury News reports that a stage adaptation of the international bestseller The Kite Runner is preparing a world-premiere production in San Jose. The novel, written by San Jose noative Khaled Hosseini, has been adapted for the stage by Matthew Spangler. Performances will begin at the San Jose Repertory Theatre on March 21 and play through April 19, directed by David Ira Goldstein.

Published in 2003, The Kite Runner tells the story of Amir, a famous novelist who leaves California to return to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he grew up and betrayed a childhood friend long ago. Achieving bestseller status in 2005, thanks to its popularity among reading groups and book clubs, it was made into a movie in 2007.

The stage version will incorporate minimal staging, with the kite sequences conveyed through words, dance and percussion, as well as small changes such as the villain Assef is no longer half German and the female characters have been expanded. “It is a lot more faithful to the novel,” Housseini tells the Mercury News. “It has also allowed me to do a little editing, things I wish I had done differently the first time.”