Adapting Jacob Hobbin's "The Garden of Eden"

I have had six year’s worth of experience in theater. My roles have ranged from
acting, set decoration, lighting, sound, filming and stage-managing. It is from
these experiences I find that I also enjoy film production and piecing a
narrative together.

Over the summer I was put in contact with Jacob Hobbins, a budding playwright for
theater. I was shown his play, “The Garden of Eden” over YouTube:

After watching his play I was completely swept away by the emotions involved with his
work. As someone who has personally dealt with sexual harassment, I really
connected the protagonist in his story. On top of that, I had a great sense of
appreciation for the visual metaphors that were present, such as the courtroom
as a setting, the apple and the personification of the snake. The references
that Jacob Hobbins made towards Adam and Eve, turned out to be a brilliant way
to question our idea of “the truth” behind the night in question. Is it really
Eve’s fault?

I contacted Jacob Hobbins, asking if we could potentially collaborate. When he
agreed, I asked him for his inspiration. The news articles about the 2013 rapes
occurring in India were referenced.  

I got to work on converting his play into a screenplay, which turned out to be a
difficult task. Some of the following problems surfaced:

• In theater, hyperboles are accepted to deliver a message. On screen it would come across as bad acting
• There is a lot of visual instruction in the dialogue (since setting is limited to one stage), which once again will come across as bad acting.
• Personification of the snake would be difficult. Since Jacob used a lot of sibilance in the attorney’s dialogue, this would have been awkward and out of character to deliver on screen. Theater will always reserve the right to incorporate some fantasy and the imagination, which is what film lacks.
• The entire play demonizes men, which I didn’t entirely agree with. For the sake of the plot it could be great, but as a producer I feel that I hold the ultimate responsibility for what I’m creating and publishing.

In the end, it was agreed that either I find a scriptwriter that would know how to
translate the play into a screenplay, or that I move on from this project. I
decided that it was best to avoid creating a film that would not do the play
justice.