A new stage version of Ray Bradbury’s novel “Fahrenheit 451” is in the works. The Broadway-bound adaptation will be written by Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony Award-nominated playwright Martyna Majok. Glass Half Full Productions and Aaron Glick will produce.
Bradbury’s classic 1953 novel is set in a dystopian future where books are outlawed. Guy Montag, one of the firemen whose job it is to burn any contraband tomes, soon becomes disillusioned with the censorship that defines his society.
“It is a privilege and thrill to bring this seminal novel to the stage, with one of our most visceral and acclaimed living writers,” said the producers in a joint statement. “Mr. Bradbury’s and Ms. Majok’s works both stem from the deeply human and personal, and we’re excited by the significance of this collaboration.”
Majok won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play “Cost of Living.” The drama’s 2022 Broadway bow earned the playwright a Best Play Tony nomination. Majok’s other works include “Sanctuary City” and “Queens,” in addition to penning the book for the musical “Gatsby,” which premiered in May at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In April, Majok was named a fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
“The relevancy of mind domination and the end of the world in our current age needs no words; what struck me most in ‘Fahrenheit 451’ was its lens on our loneliness,” Majok said. “How our yearning for connection and fear of its absence can be feasted upon. How we long to devote ourselves to something true and lasting in a fracturing society. And the ways we blow up our lives to unearth the truth we've buried — which will shatter us into our most honest selves. As Bradbury writes, ‘We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in awhile.’”
The book has been adapted across many mediums, including two motion pictures, as well as multiple stage versions, including a 2006 Off-Broadway mounting at 59E59 Theaters. Majok’s play will mark the first time a Bradbury work has served as the source material for a Broadway production.
Additional creative team members, casting and production dates for “Fahrenheit 451” will be announced.
