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John Ball's In The Heat of the Night

"It's eminently stageworthy...a tense and exciting story that follows the book's basic plot but offers viewers a distinctly new and different In the Heat of the Night."

CurtainUp

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Docudrama/Historic, Drama
  • 90 minutes

  • Time Period: 1960s, Contemporary
  • Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult, Senior
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings, Bare Stage/Simple Set
  • Cautions: Gun Shots, Strong Language, Mild Adult Themes

  • Performance Group:
  • Large Stage, Community Theatre, Professional Theatre, Reader's Theatre, College Theatre / Student, Church / Religious Groups
Acclaimed playwright Matt Pelfrey's adaptation of John Ball's In the Heat of the Night based on the award-winning book that inspired the Oscar-winning film and the Emmy-winning television series.It's 1962. 

A hot August night lies heavy over the small town of Argo, Alabama. A dead white man is discovered and the local police arrest a black stranger named Virgil Tibbs. The police discover that their prime suspect is in fact a homicide detective from California. As it happens, Tibbs becomes the racially-tense community's single hope in solving a brutal murder that is turning up no witnesses, no motives, and no clues.
REVIEWS:

"A tight and timely thriller!"

Theatermania.com

"It's eminently stageworthy... a tense and exciting story that follows the book's basic plot but offers viewers a distinctly new and different In The Heat of the Night."

CurtainUp

"The play is taut and startlingly resonant, even as it deals with events taking place nearly 50 years ago. Pelfrey's work is economical and uncompromising... suspenseful, thrilling, and stunningly theatrical."

Nytheatre.com

Premiere Production: John Ball's In the Heat of the Night was first produced by Godlight Theatre Company at 59E59 Theatres March 19-April 25, 2010. The production was directed by Hoe Tantalo, with production design by Maruti Evans, sound design by Elizabeth Rhodes, costume design by Virginia Monte, choreography by Hachi Yu, and fight choreography by Rick Sordelet. The production stage managers were Christina Hurtado, Meredith Brown, and Derek Shore.

Characters

  • Casting: 8M, 2F
  • Casting Attributes: Ensemble cast, Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle), Multicultural casting

ACTOR #1: Chief Gillespie
ACTOR #2: Virgil Tibbs
ACTOR #3: Sam Wood
ACTOR #4: Pete / Man In Shadows / Klansman 1
ACTOR #5: Harvey Oberst / Purdy / Klansman
ACTOR #6: Charles Tatum / Endicott / Al Jennings
ACTOR #7: Coroner / Nayor Schubert / Klansman

Available Material

Name Price
John Ball's In The Heat of the Night Script Order Now

Acclaimed playwright Matt Pelfrey's adaptation of John Ball's In the Heat of the Night based on the award-winning book that inspired the Oscar-winning film and the Emmy-winning television series.It's 1962. A hot August night lies heavy over the small town of Argo, Alabama. A dead white man is discovered and the local police arrest a black stranger named Virgil Tibbs. The police discover that their prime suspect is in fact a homicide detective from California. As it happens, Tibbs becomes the racially-tense community's single hope in solving a brutal murder that is turning up no witnesses, no motives, and no clues.

$24.95

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