It has been called the biggest movie of the Christmas season. Before Peter Jacksons King Konghits cinema screens, however, the great ape is going on stage. According to kongisking.net, a small New York theater will present the only known authorized theatrical production of the classic tale.

The play will be staged at the off-Broadway Kraine Theater and it will have only eight performances. It has the distinction, however, of being the first stage adaptation to be officially approved by the estate of Merian C.Cooper, co-creator of King Kong.

Director Dan Bianchis theater experience goes back to the 1970s. He has also worked as a film screenwriter and director and owns Videotheatre, an independent New York cinema dedicated to films shot on digital video. King Kong is to be presented by his company Radiotheatre, which produces plays inspired by pulp fiction and old-style radio dramas.

Putting fantasy on the stage is not new to Radiotheatres cast and crew. Earlier this year they acted out a series of supernatural tales called Madhouse. They followed that up with War of the Worlds. That dramatisation had a cast of only seven and special effects that amounted to little more than spooky sounds and a smoke machine. Nonetheless, it received rave reviews and Bianchi was nominated for a New York Innovative Theater Award.

Radiotheatres productions are a hybrid of theater and radio. Actors may read their parts in front of a fog-enshrouded microphone. But if they can convince audiences there are giant tripods on the stage, why not a big ape? Bianchi wont have Peter Jacksons $150M and Weta Workshop to help out, but he doesnt think he needs them.

In Hollywood and Broadway they spend all these millions of dollars and they often miss the whole point, he says in an article on nytheatre.com. The essential elements dont require any money at all. Its all about storytelling.

Bianchi is hoping to produce a stage version of another H.G. Wells classic, The Island of Dr. Moreau, in 2006.

King Kong begins at the Kraine Theater on November 30th.

Michael Simpson is a writer and science fiction fan living in Canada.