Riley (RJ) Payne: Writer & Director Turlington & Company: Producer
Set against the backdrop of a prestigious MFA Drama program in New York, The Pigeon, a contemporary adaptation of Chekhov's The Seagull, challenges these all too familiar characters to collide with the modern day struggles of being a working artist through various stages of life.
“At the bright young age of 19, I fell in love with The Seagull. I've since read almost every version published and have been searching for the ‘perfect’ translation, adaptation, etc.,” says Payne, “In 2023, something clicked, I realized that I needed to write my own version. A queer version. A trans version. The Pigeon is a love letter to all queer theatre kids who didn’t quite fit in the box they’d been forced into artistically.”
