On Wednesday, November 19, 2025, Rachel VanWormer, a distinguished actor, playwright, and the Associate Artistic Director of Write Out Loud, led a New Swan / Illuminations seminar on how she transforms literary works into plays. The event was moderated by Center Education & Community Engagement Associate Neah Lekan.
The third speaker in a series on Transfigurations,VanWormer explained how she takes a novel, a short story, or an unpublished work such as a letter diary, and condenses it into a play. In one of her biggest challenges, she transformed Cervantes' Don Quixote, a thousand-page novel from the Spanish Golden Age, into a play that can be performed in under ninety minutes.
At the New Swan event, VanWormer asked two volunteers to read excerpts from her adaptation. Co-creating an immersive experience, the rest of the group gave voices to winds and a horse. Finally, participants got to transform photos, paintings, and poems into theatrical pieces.
These sessions engaged undergrad students and community members, including UCI faculty, students, and New Swan Shakespeare Center members.
VanWormer will be directing New Swan’s “Romeo and Juliet”in 2026. VanWormer has years of directorial experience, as well as an extensive background in acting, including the role of Beatrice in New Swan’s “Much Ado” in 2025. Having played Juliet previously, she brings a rich perspective to the play.
--Melissa Telliano is a fourth-year English major and an intern with New Swan in 2025-26.