The adaptation by KTC artistic producing director Rachel Lampert features Sarah K. Chalmers, Davide Giovanzana (playing the victimized defendant Joseph K.), Lesley Greene, Karl Gregory, Leigh Keeley, John Misselwitz, George Sapio and Sophie Reppert. Opening is Sept. 4. Lampert also directs.

According to production notes, "Rachel Lampert's new stage version of the novel takes a cinematic approach to create a heightened and surreal world for 21 different characters."

Designers are Steve TenEyck (scenic and lighting) and Tim Reppert (sound).

"The Trial is a terrifying psychological trip into the life of Joseph K., an ordinary man, who wakes one day to find himself arrested for a crime whose nature is never revealed to him," KTC explains. "A maddening journey builds as his choices and fate become increasingly unpredictable.  The comfortable world that K. once knew is disrupted by the absurdity of bureaucracy, the intangibility of the law, and by his own obsession with the trial.  The more K. tries to gain control, the more he hastens his own agonizing downward spiral. Joseph K.'s absurd journey is paralleled by that of other characters, all of whom are also suffering from confusion and injustice."

At the Kitchen, the feeling of terror will be up close and personal: The intimate space seats about 70. Performances play Thursday-Friday at 8 PM & Sunday at 4 PM. There will be an additional performance on Sept. 22, 2004 at 8 PM.

Tickets are $20 adults, $17 seniors, $15 previews & matinees, $12 students. The ticket center is located in the Historic Clinton House, Downtown Ithaca near the Commons, 116 North Cayuga Street, Ithaca, NY (corner of Cayuga and Seneca Streets.). For more information, call (607) 273-4497 or visit www.kitchentheatre.org.

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The book, "The Trial," is part of this year's Cornell Community Reading Project, in which residents of the city are encouraged to read a certain title.