James Badlwin's Giovanni's Room
The James Baldwin Estate has granted Quintessence Theatre exclusive permission to
produce this World Premiere adaptation of “Giovanni’s Room” by Benjamin Sprunger and
Paul Oakley Stovall. In the groundbreaking 1956 novel, a beautiful young American travels
to Paris with his girlfriend to deliberate their future marriage. In the city of light David
discovers Paris’ vibrant queer community and falls in love with Giovanni, an Italian
bartender at a local gay bar. Unsettled by the discovery of an effeminate nature in himself
and the men around him, and scared by the newfound force of his desire and passion, David
is unable to imagine a future public life with Giovanni, and disappears into his past self,
setting off a series of fatal tragic accidents. Adaptor/playwright Paul Oakley Stovall’s
‘Written by Phillis’ premiered at Quintessence two seasons ago.
