Keith Bunin learned some valuable lessons in his three years working for animation juggernaut Pixar. Key among them is that when zillions of kids flock to the latest offering from the Emeryville studio, parents follow closely behind.
“I took those lessons I learned very seriously,” he says. “And I think the great thing about working there is that Pixar has a very clear mandate. They are not making children’s films, but making films for everyone, and that’s always been the case.”
Bunin’s talents as a writer have carried young sensibilities in some of his most substantial work, including his writing credit on the Pixar film “Onward” and HBO’s television series “In Treatment,” crafting 12-year-old Oliver, a character in the middle of his parents’ constant chaos. Bunin applied those same sensibilities to a new project at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where his task was to do something he hasn’t done in his career — adapt a bestselling children’s novel for the theatrical stage.
“The Thing About Jellyfish” is making its world premiere, driven by some heavy muscle and Berkeley Rep’s resources. In addition to the source material, the 2015 critically-acclaimed fiction debut from author Ali Benjamin, the locomotive behind the project is British American, New York-based director Tyne Rafaeli, who discovered the book during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The story follows Suzy Swanson, who is starting the 7th grade not long after her best friend Franny drowned during the ensuing summer. But Suzy is convinced Franny’s death was the result of a jellyfish sting, ultimately working with her science teacher to craft a theory with what has become Suzy’s exhaustive accumulation of jellyfish knowledge.
Suzy’s yearning to make sense of the untimely tragedy is made all the more complicated considering both girls had an unresolved falling during 6th grade. Much like Suzy, Rafaeli was trying to make sense of the world during those lonely, dark hours of Covid’s shelter-in-place.
“Those days, hope was hard to come by,” Rafaeli said. “Then I read the book in one sitting and was immediately inspired by the potential of it being a play, both because of its emotional resonance and theatrical potential.”
That potential speaks to how vivid the story is, and Rafaeli, who has her own distinguished career as a multi-hyphenate director, was struck by its inherent theatricality.
“It’s very rare for a play, but much more common for a musical, to have the kind of visuals and storytelling this story allows and kind of demands,” Rafaeli said. “Those two things immediately made me say yes, sign me up because I want to be part of this development.”
That both Bunin and Rafaeli were committed to paying proper homage to Benjamin’s story spills into every aspect of their creation. The rehearsal room for the “Jellyfish,” which opens Feb. 5, was democratic, where the younger actors had major sway on the characters’ choices and voices, as a means to provide authenticity to the production.
“I don’t feel that we have a room where it’s adults versus children,” Rafaeli said. “I think what’s so moving about this rehearsal room is the co-mingling of generations, and the way each generation is feeding the other, is singular.
Developing the novel for the stage (it has also been optioned by Reese Witherspoon for a film) means leaning into the truth of the story’s multilayered crevices, expounding the emotions that exist within the early adolescence both girls are navigating. A traditional theater base will not have that demographic locked down, nor might that older base be familiar with a popular children’s novel.
It’s within those moments where Bunin feels confident that the story’s universality will appeal to all generations.
“You could come to this play with as much or as little preconceived understanding of the material,” Bunin said. “One of the great things about this piece is that it really meets everyone where they live in a fantastic way. This play is about a very singular experience of a 12-year-old girl experiencing loss and grief for the first time. And for the adults in the audience, it’s allowing them to go back to that first moment when they felt those things and had that experience, looking at those feelings anew through Suzy’s eyes.”
David John Chávez is chair of the American Theatre Critics Association and a two-time juror for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama (‘22-‘23); @davidjchavez.bsky.social
‘THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH’
Adapted by Keith Bunin based on the novel by Ali Benjamin, presented by Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Dates: Feb. 5 – March 9 (previews begin Jan. 31)
Where: Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley
Tickets: $47-$134; berkeleyrep.org