CULVER CITY, Calif. — Fritz Lang's 1931 film M is a landmark of early German cinema, a film about a town reeling from a series of child abductions, which set off a chain reaction of fear, anger and lawlessness in its citizens.

It's a chilling tale of suspense mixed with pointed social commentary about the nature of justice, morality, and revenge. 

The film is also a favorite Tess Vidal who is directing a stage adaptation of M which is on view as a workshop production at The Actor’s Gang theater in Culver City. 

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“It’s something that spoke to me from the very first moment I watched it,” said Vidal. “But what I think is absolutely beautiful in this story is it leaves you with no answers, and sets you up for a million questions, and exists in the gray matter.”

The play has a simple episodic structure that serves as a platform for the multiple points of view of the town folk and local authorities who grapple with their own fear and morality in pursuit of the serial killer terrorizing their town. Although the film comes out of Germany's Weimar period, Vidal saw the themes as easily applicable to today's political and social climate.

“I think that we are too quick to jump to, this is black, this is white. This is right, this is wrong,” she said. “I think we should exist more in the gray matter and not try to define things as much.”

The production is not rooted in any particular time or place. Vidal says that was done to allow the audience to place themselves inside the play.

“[The play] is a direct criticism of the people of the times and the political climate of the times,” said Vidal. “That's why I staged the final scene in the audience. I want them to feel like they have as much on the line as the characters in the story.”

This workshop production of M might be taken up as a regular full production for The Actor’s Gang in the future, but for now, audiences can be part of this bold theatrical experience until January 19.