Stage Review - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Book-It Repertory Theatre)

Stage Review - The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Presented By: Book-It Repertory Theatre - Seattle, WA
Show Run: September 27 - October 12, 2025
Date Reviewed: Friday, October 03, 2025
Run Time: 2 Hours, 10 Minutes (inclusive of a 10-minute intermission)
Reviewed By: Anna Tatelman

To the delight of many PNW theatre goers (myself included), Book-It Repertory Theatre is officially back in action. Following a brief run at the Vashon Repertory Theatre, Book-It has now brought The Story of Edgar Sawtelle to the Broadway Performance Hall in Seattle. This show is both a wonderful reminder for fans, and a great introduction for first-timers, about the unique appeal of Book-It’s masterful combination of spoken prose, talented actors, and high-caliber production elements.

Book-It Repertory Theatre specializes in translating novels and short stories of all genres to the stage. Unlike most stage adaptations of literature, Book-It uses direct language directly from their chosen text for not just for dialogue, but as a narrative device and way to gain insight into the characters’ innermost feelings. This technique centers the language of the original text while enhancing it four dimensionally as only live theatre can.

Their revival production is an adaptation of novelist David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, a loose retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that takes place on a rural midwestern landscape in the ‘70s. Edgar Sawtelle is born without the ability to speak aloud, but luckily finds himself in a supportive home with his parents and the many intelligent dogs they breed and train. He develops a particularly strong connection with the family’s dog Almondine, who takes it on as her proud duty to look after the boy just like he looks after her. Their lively and warm family life is disturbed by the arrival of Edgar’s uncle Claude, as he begins to pick at the seemingly serene threads composing Edgar’s life.

In adapting Wroblewski’s moving text, Jane Jones and Kevin McKeon brilliantly pull audiences into this tale that alternates between emotionally touching and thrumming with tension. This script also excellently centers a character with a disability without making that disability the entire plot or Edgar’s defining feature; instead, we get an authentic exploration of how his absence of a voice colors his actions, thoughts, and feelings, both the good and bad. I did feel that the relationship between Edgar and his dog Almondine, which is offered as the heart of the play, got lost in the middle within the rest of the plot, making it lose some emotional resonance toward the end. That said, adapting a novel into a two-hour show is a tall order, and one that by and large is done beautifully here. Jones, who is also the director, enhances the script with impeccable pacing: letting us linger in the soft moments, like when the family celebrates the holidays together, and moving the narrative relentlessly forward in those moments of anger, pain, or sheer panic.

Just as this unique theatre promises to do, Book-It’s production elements bring into a vivid four dimensions what were previously two-dimensional words on a page. My favorite is the original music compositions by Annastasia Workman, which range from beautiful flowing melodies to discordant key plunks during the tension-rich scenes. Bonus, these are played live during the show by music director Edd Key.

The deceptively simple set design of wood paneled walls and bales of hay helps place us in a rural homestead while giving the performers lots of variety in how they interact with their surroundings (set design by Kevin McKeon). Costume designer Pete Rush enhances the provincial mood by costuming the Sawtelle family in nice but practical clothing with plaid patterns or stripes, and highlights the disruptive nature of Uncle Claude by costuming him in a nicer button-down shirt and suit jacket. Andrew D. Smith’s lighting design create some truly stunning visual compositions, most especially in his playing with the performers’ silhouettes against the slated wood set.

All nine performers in this cast bring devotion and talent to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, whether they’re charmingly rolling around on the floor as dogs or portraying good-hearted people who sometimes make poor choices. Christopher Morson incredibly captures the arc of an adolescent forced to grow up too soon by the encroachment of betrayal, anger, and deception into his loving family life. He makes the most of his nonverbal reactions to the other characters around him and of the moments when he speaks his innermost thoughts aloud, heard by no one. The scene where he finds a family member in turmoil and unable to call 911 for help, painfully beating on his own chest to force a voice out, is gut-wrenching.  

Libby Barnard embodies the family dog Almondine; she knows exactly when to play something up for laughs, like by throwing a few pants or whines into her dialogue, and when to offer us keen emotional insights that, like Edgar, she cannot express aloud. Brian Gunter plays Uncle Claude and does an excellent job creating a chilling presence onstage without being overdramatic, moving and speaking far more languidly than the other characters, calm in his ability to control his surroundings. Other standouts include Jenn Ruzumna as Edgar’s mother, who captures both the tenderness and fierceness of a mother reaching the ends of multiple ropes; Jason Marr as Edgar’s father, who offers Edgar a far different approach toward what it means to be a man compared to Uncle Claude; and Jon Stutzman as the good-hearted but manipulated cop who can’t see all the strings pulling him along a certain path.

Book-It Repertory Theatre marks their return with a production that both reminds us why their unique take on theatre matters and promises great shows to come. Much like Book-It itself, their current production of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle is deceptively simple on the surface, with worlds upon worlds lying beneath. From the script rich with prose, to the talented ensemble, to the stunning audio and visual landscape, each element beautifully composes a play that’s quite unlike anything else on stage.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, presented by Book-It Repertory Theatre, runs on stage at Broadway Performance Hall through October 12. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit www.book-it.org/.

Photo credit: Aaron Wheetman