Z Space: Word for Word present: Home by George Saunders

April 5-29 at Z Below

The story of Mikey, a war veteran returning to a home that is increasingly cruel and absurd—and his quest for understanding and compassion. George Saunders’ subtle yet absurdist humor brings a unique slant to otherwise dark topics.

Of “Home”, George Saunders says, “If you send four hundred thousand people into a shitstorm, don’t expect everybody to come back smelling like roses. Some of them are going to come back damaged. To show ourselves to be an honorable culture, we have to step up and deal with them with all the generosity and love we can summon, or shame on us.”

Word for Word has a long history of adapting Saunders’ work, going back to 2017 when they performed a staged reading of a section from his novel Lincoln in the Bardo at both the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco and Shakespeare & Co. in Paris. Saunders both attended and performed in both readings. Duly impressed by their signature style of using the entire text of a work in realizing a dramatic adaptation of a piece, he has graciously lent his permission for Word for Word to use his work in subsequent productions, and has often participated in post-show conversations. Most recently his short story “Victory Lap” was given a full production treatment in Word for Word’s 25th Anniversary Show (2018).