​​*This production took 2nd Place at the 2021 Charles Nelson Reilly National Directing Awards.

The Neverending Story
Written by Michael Ende, adapted by David S. Craig

CONCEPT
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The heart of The Neverending Story is a shared journey between
Bastian, a boy who is reading a book, and Atreyu, the hero in that book. Any good book takes the reader on a journey. More than being invested in the story, the reader tells the story as they read. Without the reader, the characters do not have life, the world does not have substance, and the story cannot be told. The journey in Bastian’s book is so engaging for him that he literally becomes a hero in the story. Our production sought to create that same feeling in the audience, where our spectators became heroes in this production.
*This production served as my MFA Thesis as well as the capstone project for my National Michael Chekhov Association Teacher Certification.
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COLLABORATIVE TEAM

Set Design: Nick Schwartz
​Costume Design: Rachel Sypniewski
Lighting Design: Jordan Kardasz
Technical Director: Karl Sullivan
Stage Manager: Matthew Clifford

SET DESIGN
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One of the exciting challenges of this production was that we needed to create two worlds- the real world of Bastian, and the amorphous Fantastica- a land that lives inside of every story and encompasses all genres. In addition to that, the world of Fantastica is falling apart throughout the play, so it is breaking down into the component parts of the world. An anchor for the story is Bastian's attic space , which stayed onstage the entire run. We chose to use the image of books flying in the space from floor to ceiling that slowly disappear throughout the story. By the end of the play, the two heroes, Bastian and Atreyu, meet in an empty liminal space between the worlds. 

PRODUCTION PHOTOS