Abstract: This article is dedicated to the question of text transformation from authorial intent to stage impersonation. Despite the established tradition of studying the questions of recoding of literary text into theatrical, there is yet no theoretical-literary substantiation. Recoding is considered a complex process of creating a new type of text by the theatre director for staging a play. Therefore, an attempt is made to analyze the elements of transformation of literary text into its stage version, using the example of S. V. Zhenovach’s unpublished manuscript for stage direction based on A. P. Chekhov’s novella “Three Years”. The novelty of this research consists in determination of the patterns in transformation of literary text into stage version. The tools and means of expression applied in theatre and literature are different. If in literature it is possible to set several task and solve them all within the framework of the novel, then in theatre, it must be one ultimate task that organizes the action. Identification of the key peculiarities of existence of such type of text as “stage direction” on the example of transformation of the novella “The Years” from the authorial intent to stage impersonation demonstrated its significance for not only theatre studies, but also the theory of literature.