Introduction
The honor would be entirely mine if you would attend my little party tonight.
A century ago a mysterious character named Jay Gatsby held extravagant parties at his Long Island estate. Gatsby’s parties remain memorable and iconic over time — who still wouldn’t want to be invited to one?
Consider yourself invited.
A Night at Gatsby’s is a drama-prose-audio-video adaptation that preserves the Great American Novel’s voice while breaking the fourth wall and immersing viewers-readers-listeners in one of Gatsby’s unforgettable Jazz Age parties to relive his story over one night from the initial rumors and lies about Gatsby, through his reunion with Daisy and confrontation with Tom, and ending with his lonely farewell.
A Night at Gatsby's tells Fitzgerald's story as never before, providing a unique way to experience the classic that will engage both devout fans and those new to the story. The production is ideal narrative content for the Apple Vision Pro and other headsets, with 180° 3D video, hand tracking and spatial audio directly supporting interactive storytelling.
A Night at Gatsby’s is a dramatic experiment, a production constrained by Place, Time, Cast, and Language. Viewers are guests at Gatsby’s mansion (Place) for just one night (Time) and hear the talk of other party guests (Cast) who only speak the novel’s colloquial dialogue, not its lyrical narration (Language).
Video. The A Night at Gatsby’s streaming video provides for viewer agency through character and object interaction. Viewers experience the one-hour production as 3D immersive and interactive on a 6DoF MR headset/glasses, 2D interactive on a computer/tablet/smartphone or 2D non-interactive on a television.
Playbook. The A Night at Gatsby’s playbook contains the one-act play and an accompanying novelette that adds the relevant surrounding narration for all the play’s dialogue. It invites general readers to revisit Gatsby’s story and serves as a classroom teaching tool, student study guide, and traditional stage script. The play may be licensed for productions by educational, community and professional theatres.
Audiobook. The A Night at Gatsby’s audiobook is a dramatic reading of the novelette by a professional actor to preserve the narrative’s poetry and infuse the characters’ dialogue with life.
So put on a metaphorical cloche hat or straw boater and join Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Jordan, and guests in reliving Gatsby’s personal dream: “Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!”
A Note To Educators
The Great Gatsby is required reading in over half of America’s 31,000 high schools (primarily in 11th grade) and 4,300 colleges and universities (primarily in freshman year). 2.5 million students aged 16-24 study the novel annually. 100 million Americans have consequently read it and an additional 175 million may do so during the rest of this century. As both entertainment and study aid for this enduring audience, A Night at Gatsby’s captures Gatsby’s romantic myth of self-creation that speaks deeply to young adults.
Instructors are always looking for ways to engage students in the required subject matter. The playbook may be used for in-class dramatic readings, followed by discussions on how the play's dialogue supports the novel’s larger narrative and storyline.
Hundreds of thousands of students annually purchase Gatsby study guides. Gatsby instructors have long questioned the efficacy of 90-page study guides for a 180-page novel. Tomorrow’s media-savvy students and their 50,000 Gatsby instructors will prefer A Night at Gatsby’s that dramatizes key aspects of the story in Fitzgerald’s original dialogue as better preparation for class discussions, presentations and assignments.
The A Night at Gatsby’s playbook was introduced at the 2021 National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) annual convention. Among the 1,000 attendee reactions were: “My students would love this,” “This is fantastic,” “Love the idea. Super cool,” “An impressive resource,” “A great way to teach upper-level AP Lit skills,” and perhaps most importantly “Contacting my department about purchasing.” The NCTE and its 47 state affiliates provide direct marketing access to the 50,000 Gatsby instructors.
About The Adapter
Richard Vigilante is a retired university administrator and professor with 30 years of experience in developing and directing online degree programs at Columbia, NYU and the U.S. Jesuit universities. In some kind of right-brain/left-brain synthesis, he has managed to infuse his childhood dream of being an animator into most aspects of a professional life in statistics and IT, employing graphics, video and, yes, animation — over traditional quantitative tools — to create, manage and teach. While his field is informatics, he has a careerlong interest in the intersection of education, technology and entertainment.
