When Heritage High School theater Director Larry Hart first read “Fahrenheit 451,” he couldn’t imagine staging it as a play.
But then he read the stage version written by Ray Bradbury, who also wrote the novel.
“I kind of got a vision of how we were going to present it,” he says.
Pioneer Theatre’s production is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday.
The book and play are about a futuristic society in which books are burned and original thought is outlawed. The “451” in the title refers to the temperature at which books burn, and the people who burn them are called firemen.
The central character is Guy Montag, a fireman who suddenly starts reading and thinking for himself.
In this world, “there are no original thinkers anymore,” Hart says. “He’s trying to, and that’s a neat thing to see.”
Guy also encounters several very different people during his journey, including a female book reader who “represents life and energy,” Hart says.
There’s also Faber, who was a professor before books were banned. He is now against the fireman, but is too afraid to do anything about it. That changes when he meets Guy and helps him hatch a plot to fight them.
Guy’s nemesis, if you will, is Captain Beatty, the chief of the fireman.
“He has this hate for books,” Hart says. “He and Faber represent the angel and the Devil … that (Guy) is caught between.”
The play is part of The Big Read, a nationwide initiative designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. It provides citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book — in our case, “Fahrenheit 451” — within their communities through a series of programs. Amazement Square and the Lynchburg Public Library are hosting it locally.
“We thought what better way for students to connect with the story than to (put on the play),” says Rebecca Grawl, exhibitions and program coordinator at Amazement Square. “It was a way of making it more fun for them.
“It brings the story to life.”
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