Tina Satter Plans Stage Adaptation Of ‘The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant’

Writer-director Tina Satter and her Half Straddle theater ensemble will reunite with Off Broadway‘s Vineyard Theatre on Petra, a reimagining of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s play and film The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.

Petra, styled by the company as PETRA, will be the first Satter-Vineyard collaboration since the acclaimed Is This A Room in 2019 (the play about whistleblower Reality Winner transferred to Broadway in 2021 and was later adapted into the HBO feature film Reality starring Sydney Sweeney, directed by Satter).

“We are thrilled to welcome Tina Satter and Half Straddle back to Vineyard Theatre after our collaboration on Is This A Room,” said Vineyard Artistic Director Sarah Stern. “Tina is a singular and visionary theatre maker whose work is full of heart, precision, and imagination. She has now turned her lens to Fassbinder’s play The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, a psychological chamber drama which became a classic of art house and queer cinema.

“Tina,” Stern continued, “reimagines this quietly epic story of desire, loneliness, and the power struggles embedded in intimate relationships in ways that are absolutely riveting. I truly can’t wait for Vineyard audiences to experience this moving and illuminating new production.”

Petra will begin performances in February 2027.

The synopsis: “Celebrated fashion designer Petra lives and works in a world of her own making, attended by her devoted assistant, Marlene. When a beautiful young model named Karin enters her orbit, Petra falls obsessively in love — and her carefully constructed reality begins to unravel.”

Fassbinder’s film based on his play was released in 1972 and is regarded as the filmmaker’s masterpiece with a central place in New German Cinema.

Petra joins the Vineyard’s 2026-2027 season which includes the previously announced Ms. Blakk For President (like Petra, stylized by the company in uppercase letters) starring Wayne Brady. The play is co-written by Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight, Choir Boy) and Tina Landau (Floyd Collins, SpongeBob SquarePants) and directed by Landau. Performances begin October 15 with an opening night of November 1.

Today’s announcement was made by Stern and Managing Producer Moogie Brooks.