A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

John Ball's In The Heat of the Night

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2w, 8m

By Matt Pelfrey
Based on the novel by John Ball

This riveting stage adaptation of the award-winning book, which inspired an Oscar-winning film and Emmy-winning television series, concerns a Black homicide detective's investigation of a brutal murder in Argo, Alabama in 1962.

John Ball's In The Heat of the Night

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 8m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Adaptations (Literature), Mystery/Thriller, Period, Docudrama/Historic
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Senior, Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary

It’s 1962. A hot August night lies heavy over the small town of Argo, Alabama. A dead white man is discovered, and the local police arrest a Black stranger named Virgil Tibbs, who turns out to be a homicide detective from California. Tibbs soon becomes the racially tense community’s single hope in solving a brutal murder that has yielded no witnesses, no motives and no clues.

Acclaimed playwright Matt Pelfrey’s adaptation of John Ball’s In the Heat of the Night is based on the award-winning book, which inspired an Oscar-winning film and Emmy-winning television series.

History
John Ball's In the Heat of the Night was first produced by Godlight Theatre Company at 59E59 Theaters from March 19 to April 25, 2010. The production was directed by Joe Tantalo, with production design by Maruti Evans, sound design by Elizabeth Rhodes, costume design by Virginia Monte, choreography by Hachi Yu, and fight choreography by Rick Sordelet. The production stage managers were Christina Hurtado, Meredith Brown and Derek Shore.
ACTOR #1 – Chief Gillespie
ACTOR #2 – Virgil Tibbs
ACTOR #3 – Sam Wood
ACTOR #4 – Pete/Man In Shadows/Klansman 1
ACTOR #5 – Harvey Oberst/Purdy/Klansman
ACTOR #6 – Charles Tatum/Endicott/Al Jennings

ACTOR #7 – Coroner/Mayor Schubert/Klansman
ACTOR #8 – Eric Kaufman/Ralph/Klansman
ACTOR #9 – Melanie Tatum
ACTOR #10 – Noreen Purdy

  • Time Period 1960s
  • Setting Argo, Alabama. 1962.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Gun Shots
    • Strong Language
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“A tight and timely thriller.” – TheaterMania

“Eminently stageworthy... a tense and exciting story that follows the book's basic plot but offers viewers a distinctly new and different In the Heat of the Night.” – CurtainUp

“The play is taut and startlingly resonant, even as it deals with events taking place nearly 50 years ago. Pelfrey's work is economical and uncompromising... suspenseful, thrilling and stunningly theatrical.” – NYTheatre.com

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)
  • Chorus Size N/A (Not a musical)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Authors

Matt Pelfrey

Matt Pelfrey is the resident playwright at Furious Theatre. His plays include An Impending Rupture of the Belly, Cockroach Nation, Terminus Americana, Honkies with Attitude, Gore Hounds, Drive Angry, FrEAk StORm, Jerry Springer is God, John Ball's In the Heat of the Night and ...

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John Ball

The son of scientist, John Ball (1911-1988) was born in Schenectady, New York, grew up in Milwaukee and attended Caroll College in Waukesha, Wisconsin. He subsequently worked as a science staff writer for Fortune, a feature writer for the Brooklyn Eagle, a daily columnist on ...
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