The Builders Association: STRANGE WINDOW: The Turn of the Screw

Henry James’ thrilling 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw is a Gothic ghost story, a rich and unsettling tale with a contemporary psychological edge. The book tells the story of a young, impressionable governess caring for two children on a remote estate, when she becomes convinced that two malevolent ghosts haunt the house. The question of whether the ghosts truly exist opens a larger question of what we believe to be true, and how we come to believe it. The Builders Association, an Obie Award-winning performance and media company founded in 1994 by director Marianne Weems, stands at the forefront of contemporary theatre-making, drawing from familiar and historic narratives and extending them into the present through a sophisticated collage of performance, media, sound, and architecture that describe the human experience in the 21st century. In STRANGE WINDOW: The Turn of the Screw, a piece which will be completed and premiered at Krannert Center—extending a decade-plus relationship that has produced some of the field’s most innovative work—The Builders’ versatile performers and their media kit explore the complex psychological bends and turns of this riveting journey. Large-scale faces shown in extreme slow motion will create a cinematic environment where truthtelling, intriguing ambiguity, and a bit of delightful fright make for a compelling night of layered drama.