“It was this totally integrated process, because I was writing for (Jones), and she’s directing to help me, and (Sobeck's) managing both of us, trying to help everybody create a cohesive vision," Hagen said. Hagen said the adaptation was highly collaborative as each woman influenced the others as they developed the script. When the rights to adapt the best-selling novel were secured about 18 months ago, Jones enlisted the help of Hagen and Sobeck. “It’s a story about the power of education and how girls are brave and smart and strong,” Jones said. Miri was raised on the mountain and, with several other girls from her village by a stone quarry, is required to attend a “princess academy” to be trained as a candidate to marry the kingdom's prince.Īlong with gaining other skills, Miri learns to read, and she uses her education to lead her classmates, make her village more prosperous and ultimately escape from dire circumstances.
Set in the fictional kingdom of Danland, "Princess Academy" tells the story of 14-year-old Miri of Mount Eskel. She had read "Princess Academy" with her children and wanted to share the story with others because of the valuable themes found in the novel, which was named a 2006 Newbery Honor Book. Jones said she began looking into creating a stage adaptation several years ago. Hale’s book follows strong female characters who band together, and director Megan Sanborn Jones, playwright Lisa Hall Hagen and dramaturg Janine Sobeck similarly collaborated on something bigger than themselves. PROVO - Adapting a 300-page novel into a two-hour play that maintains and communicates the book's major themes is no small feat, but such was the task taken on by three women in preparation for the BYU Department of Theatre and Media Arts' upcoming adaptation of Utah author Shannon Hale’s novel “Princess Academy.”
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