The King
Rehearsal 2/7/2026
For my honors thesis, I, along with Michael Ryterski, Dani Perez, and Lucian Sheldon-Wesley, will devise and showcase a play adaptation of Eliza Clark’s short story “The King” from her collection She’s Always Hungry. This piece will be a culmination of everything that we have learned from our time in Pace University’s International Performance Ensemble (IPE) program. We will showcase our final work in the IPE’s NOW (Night of Original Work) Festival in February, and we will have a total of four performances. Our core ensemble is made up of four members; two actors, Lucian and myself, and two directors, Michael and Dani. We are also vitally supported by our ensemble of four (and hopefully, eventually six or eight) IPE underclassmen. Our “bagged-men,” as we refer to them with love, are joining us gradually in the later phases of the devising process.
As one of the two actors in the group, I will be performing in the final piece as one of our two main characters, Shauna. My co-star, Lucian, will be bringing the otherworldly character of The King to life onstage using our collaboratively developed material. Notably, I have also taken on the role of a writer, and much of the script thus far is my original work inspired by everything I have learned and experienced with my ensemble thus far. In producing text for our script, I have also done personal research. Some of my readings I’ve directly quoted in our (unfinished) script include Paradise Lost by John Milton, The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot, and There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale.
Eliza Clark’s original story, “The King”, is a dark comedy about an immortal, sadistic, kinky, cannibalistic goddess who has lived on Earth for centuries and who is now waiting for the end of the world, biding her time in a senior marketing position at a tech company. The day that the world ends, she openly feasts on human flesh at work—the sustenance of her species— revelling in the terror of her coworkers as Russia sends the nukes. Believing she is the last of her kind, The King plans for post-apocalyptic world domination, unaware that her new coworker, Shauna, is also an “apex predator”... and will one day overthrow her.
We chose Clark’s story because we were drawn to its themes of power, subjugation, obsession, and the complex underlying message that it tells. Currently, I believe that is: “Tyranny begins with permission.” We believe this story is extremely relevant today, with a dynamic plotline that inspires us to synthesize our training in critical analysis, collaborative creation, movement, and experimental storytelling to sound its cry. Last spring, our performance ensemble class worked closely with the short story “Sleep” by Haruki Murakami and experimented with its transformation from text to stage. The insight we gained from that work was critical this fall as we began adapting “The King”. It served as a framework for the process of breaking down the text and reconstructing the story in a different medium while maintaining its essence.
We understand the sensitivity of these topics and as a group we are striving to create the most effective yet thoughtful artistic representation of them for the stage. We will be extremely intentional about our use of gore in The King; any blood or guts that appear will serve a purpose beyond shock value and will contribute to the greater cry of the play. One book we have looked to for guidance is Splatter Capital by Mark Steven, which contains academic discussions about the politics of cannibalism and what it means when it appears in art spawned from capitalistic society.
We follow a rigorous rehearsal schedule, meeting for Performance Workshop class each Wednesday, and having rehearsals each Thursday and occasionally on another day of the week. We meet for three hours or longer each time, and as we get closer to the show, we will continue to increase our number of meetings. We take videos and photos throughout our rehearsals to help us remember what we have made and to allow those performing to view the work from the outside. These will be submitted in a folder alongside any online research material we gather and, eventually, our finished script. All of our advisors have stated they will be able to attend one of our final performances.
I am endlessly excited about this project, and each rehearsal brings even more zeal and love for our story and this process. It is a unique and thrilling opportunity to work this intimately with a small ensemble on material that pushes both creative and thematic boundaries. “The King” is bold, strange, and deeply unsettling, and these qualities demand courage and collaboration from everyone involved. As we continue building this piece, I am committed to honoring the intricacy of Clark’s world while contributing my voice and body as a vessel for its theatrical transformation. This thesis is not only a culmination of my time in the IPE program, but also a launching point for the kind of work I hope to continue making: daring, collaborative, and driven by the desire to tell complex, provocative stories.
