i.
Nick
Carraway
Our narrator
“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled.”
Clemson Little Theatre Mainstage presents
Old money. New money. One green light.
Until the curtain rises at The Pendleton Playhouse
Tickets go on sale December 4, 2026
A Story of the Jazz Age
So we beat on, boats against the current…
Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, passionately pursues the elusive Daisy Buchanan. Nick Carraway, a young newcomer to Long Island, is drawn into their world of obsession, greed and danger. The breathtaking glamour and decadent excess of the Jazz Age come to the stage in Simon Levy's epic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel.
This is America, the Jazz Age, a land of enchantment and illusions, a world where love and dreams are pursued and betrayed.
About the Adaptation
Simon Levy's adaptation plays Fitzgerald's story as memory — a dreamscape where scenes overlap, linger and sometimes play at once, set against a larger-than-life backdrop that stands in for the novel's lyric prose. Levy asks that it be approached the way you would a musical, with the music of the Jazz Age woven through the telling.
Authentic 1920s music, projected visuals, and three high-energy party dance scenes.
The Pendleton Playhouse · 214 S. Mechanic Street, Pendleton, SC 29670 · Lobby doors open 30 minutes before showtime. Rated PG-13.
East Egg and West Egg, old money and new, one long summer of parties — and a green light burning at the end of a dock. Here are the people you'll meet across the bay.
“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled.”
“Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can!”
“A beautiful little fool.”
“Civilization's going to pieces.”
“I like large parties. They're so intimate.”
“God sees everything.”
Behind the Curtain
Ralph Welsh's production stays true to Fitzgerald's novel and to this season's From the Page to the Stage theme. It isn't a musical, but it runs like one: the lights, sound and video of the Pendleton Playhouse carry the audience from their seats into the glittering parties of West Egg, the ash heaps of the Valley of Ashes, and the green light across the bay.
Directed by Ralph Welsh · Produced by Lindsey Norris
From the Page to the Stage · Show 4 of 6 · 2026–2027 Season
