[7] adobe theatre company first gained the attention of mainstream critics with their production of Blink of an Eye (1995), written and directed by Jeremy Dobrish.
New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley described the play as “a giddy detective story [that] suggests Pirandello on Prozac, recasting his usual mind games in the cheery terms of a Mad magazine parody.”[8] Two years later, Dobrish staged Notions in Motion (1997), a contemporary adaptation of Pirandello’s Each in His Own Way, which Brantley praised as “a gleeful romp of an exercise in relativity, existential doubt and artistic illusions.”[6] Notions in Motion transferred to a limited run off-Broadway at the Greenwald Theatre.
Dobrish also wrote the plays The Handless Maiden (1998), which wove Brothers Grimm characters into the contemporary world,[9] and Orpheus and Eurydice (2000), a rock-and-roll retelling of the classical Greek myth.
[10] American Theatre magazine wrote, “In plays like Orpheus and The Handless Maiden, Dobrish has proven adept at knitting together a comic tissue of contemporary realities, in which the tiny bright threads of myth and fairy tale adhere and are interwoven with recognizable parallels within modern-day relationships.
There is pathos, too, layered with the zingy laughs.”[7] Other adobe theatre company productions written by Dobrish include Deception (2003) and Superpowers (2004).
[12] adobe staged several plays written by Jeff Goode, including The Eight: Reindeer Monologues (1995/2001),[13] Larry and the Werewolf (1998),[14] Poona The F*#kdog (1999) featuring Peter Dinklage,[15] and Prague-Nosis (2002).
[17] While the majority of adobe’s productions were directed by Dobrish, other directors working with the company included Lance Ball, Jessica Irons, Edward Elefterion, Stephen Haff, Damon Kiely, Elyse Singer, and Paul Zablocki.
A Fish Story (1999), created by Erin Quinn Purcell, Gregory Jackson, and Michael Garin, was the winner of a Jonathan Larson Grant.