NOW PUBLISHED BY STAGE PARTNERS. (www.yourstagepartners.com) This thrillingly theatrical and flexibly staged adaptation unearths two creatures tortured and abandoned by their makers: Victor’s famous monster and the teenage writer Mary Shelley herself. A unique retelling of Shelley's classic with an unusual offering of key roles for female actors, I AM FRANKENSTEIN involves the author as a principal character, heightens the role of Victor’s betrothed, Elizabeth, as the emotional heart of the play, and introduces the signature innovation of The Blackbirds, a haunting avian chorus of movers/vocalists/actors to manifest the darkest reaches of Shelley’s mind and serve as the conscience of the play. Victor, a promising university student obsessed with alchemy and the recent death of his mother, reanimates human life in the basement laboratory of a vacationing professor, only to abandon the poor creature, inspiring it to slowly exact revenge. This 90-minute adaptation also draws inspiration from "Paradise Lost,” a major influence on Shelley’s original novel. The play deeply mines the feelings of abandonment felt by teens and twenty-somethings. A minimum of 10 actors play 14 principal roles, including The Blackbirds chorus. Proven suitable for both low- and high-tech productions, from black-box in the round to multi-level sets in a theater with a fly system. A successful cast would benefit from two leading female actors, a group of three to six female ensemble/movers with vocal/acting ability, and three strong male actors.