Amherst Reads The Scarlet Letter: A Verse Tragedy in Two Acts

From the publisher: "A tour de force of verse drama," said Craig Watson, Literary Manager of Trinity Repertory Company.

"A beautiful lyrical treatment," wrote Robert Falls, Artistic Director, Goodman Theater. "A handsome balance between the elegance of Hawthorne and the real passion these characters need to sustain our engagement."

The classic love story of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale recalls the Biblical myth of Adam and Eve, who for their transgression suffer expulsion. Yet in their suffering, they gain the knowledge of what it means to be a sympathetic and understanding human being.

For Hester, the scarlet letter is her passport into regions where other women dare not tread. She is a pioneer and a modern women. She wishes to determine her own identity rather than to allow others to determine it for her. She envisions, like Hawthorne, a brighter future where "a new truth would be revealed, in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness."

For her lover Arthur Dimmesdale, only torment awaits for he does not possess the strength to embrace Hester's truth: that individuality and strength are gained by quiet self-assertion and by a reconfiguration, not a rejection, of one's identity and place in society.

"A wonderful adaptation, splendidly written and characterized," said James Magruder of Center Stage Baltimore."