The Daily Archive

A Mansion or a Madhouse? Decoding the True Setting of The Yellow Wallpaper

A picturesque country estate. A physician husband. A quiet summer of rest and recovery. This is the story the narrator of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper tells us—but can we trust her? As The Archive Theater prepares to bring this psychological thriller to the stage, we invite audiences to step inside one of the most famously terrifying rooms in American literature. But before you enter the theater to experience our theatrical adaptation of Gilman’s masterpie

A Victorian Nightmare: The Medical Reality Behind The Yellow Wallpaper

When you sit down in the audience for The Archive Theater’s production of The Yellow Wallpaper, you will be transported into a chilling tale of psychological unraveling. But the most terrifying aspect of the play isn't the creeping shadows or the main character's descent into madness. The scariest part is that the medical treatment she is forced to endure was absolutely real. To fully grasp the nightmare of the story, one must look at commonly used Victorian era medicines, th

The Yellow Wallpaper Wants You to Feel Many Things. Comfort Isn’t One of Them.

There’s been a lot of discourse lately about annoying and even problematic audience behavior in the theater. Talking, texting, noisily opening candy wrappers, and Patti LuPone’s least favorite: taking photos. And while I’ve never been a fan of any of those behaviors and never will be, there’s one more that is my greatest pet peeve. I hate when audience members gravitate exclusively towards plays they think will be pleasant or comfortable. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good

Why I Adapted The Yellow Wallpaper. Twice

By Jeff Davis I wasn’t the first person to attempt to adapt The Yellow Wallpaper. The groundbreaking short story has been adapted to radio plays, stage plays, opera, and film countless times, though never to great success. If anyone were to tell me that The Yellow Wallpaper was impossible to successfully adapt to the stage, and that as a seminal work of American feminist literature, male identifying playwrights shouldn’t touch it, I’d be inclined to agree. So why should I, a

Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper

By Charlotte Perkins Gilman In 1892, Charlotte Perkins Gilman published “The Yellow Wallpaper,” a semi-autobiographical short story about mental health and social expectations for women. The work eventually became a classic piece of feminist literature, resonating with generations of readers as a powerful call for justice. Gilman later addressed some of the reasoning behind her writing in a 1913 article published in her magazine, The Forerunner. Many and many a reader has ask

The Yellow Wallpaper Auditions

Archive Theatre | Austin, TX Auditions: June 26 & 27, 2026 at The ACA Sanctuary The Yellow Wallpaper is a direct stage adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 short story. Adapted for the stage by Jeff Davis, the play follows a woman confined to a rented colonial mansion by her physician husband, ostensibly to rest and recover. It contains themes of bodily autonomy, the suppression of women's creative power, and psychological confinement. CHARACTER BREAKDOWN: JOHN'S WIF