Professor Fred Curchack is appearing this week in a Dallas theater production of Monkey: The Quest to the West, a play he adapted for the stage from a famous Chinese novel.

Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Undermain Theatre in Deep Ellum. Discounts are available for students.

Curchack staged the adaptation on the UT Dallas campus last spring. He is a professor of aesthetic studies in the School of Arts and Humanities.

The story follows the supernatural trickster Monkey, who makes war with heaven until he is imprisoned under a mountain by Buddha. After 500 years, he is released to protect a Buddhist monk on his perilous journey from China to India to bring back spiritual texts. On the way they encounter all manner of deities, demons, monsters and outrageous misadventures.

This magical story has been adapted by the Beijing Opera, several kung fu movies (Jackie Chan and Jet Li recently teamed up in a film version), plays, rock operas, cartoons, anime, manga, and cult TV series in China, Japan, England, and the U.S.

Curchack has created more than 70 original theatre works, twenty-six of them solos. This is Curchack’s sixth theatrical collaboration with performer Laura Jorgenson.

Media Contact: Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, newscenter@utdallas.edu


Monkey: Journey to the West poster
October 9-18 at Undermain Theatre, 3200 Main St., Dallas. Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and Fridays-Saturdays at 8:15 p.m.