NYTW To Present Staged Version of Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury

New York Theatre Workshop has announced that it will present The Sound and The Fury April Seventh, 1928, based on part one of the novel by William Faulkner and created by Elevator Repair Service. Performances begin April 15 at NYTW's off-Broadway home, with opening night set for April 29. The production will run through May 18, directed by the ensemble's founder, John Collins.

The cast of The Sound and the Fury April Seventh, 1928 is Mike Iveson, Vin Knight, Aaron Landsman, April Matthis, Annie McNamara, Randolph Curtis Rand, Greig Sargeant, Kate Scelsa, Kaneza Schaal, Susie Sokol, Tory Vazquez, and Ben Williams.

Written by Nobel Prize winner William Faulkner in 1929, The Sound and the Fury tells the story of the decline of the Compson family of fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi. A once noble clan descended from a Civil War hero, the family falls victim to many of the shortcomings Faulkner believed were the problems of the reconstructed South—racism, greed, selfishnesss—thereby showing how the ideals and life of the old South could not easily be maintained or preserved in the post-Civil War era. "April Seventh, 1928," part one of the novel, is told from the point of view of Benjy Compson, who is mute with the mind of a child.

Elevator Repair Service was founded by John Collins and a group of actors in 1991. The ensemble's body of work combines elements of slapstick comedy, hi-tech and lo-tech design, vaudeville, both literary and found text, found objects and discarded furniture, and the group's own highly developed style of choreography. Recently, ERS' focus has turned to literature, with work based on the fiction of Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Kerouac, and, now, William Faulkner.

Scenic design for The Sound and the Fury April Seventh, 1928 is by David Zinn, costume design is by Colleen Werthmann, lighting design is by Mark Barton, sound design is by Matt Tierney and choreography is by Katherine Profeta.