A.R.T.’s ‘300 Paintings’ Brings Humor to Harrowing Story of Mental Illness

October 5, 2025April 10, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Sam Kissajukian in performance of ‘300 Paintings’ at A.R.T. Credit: Evgenia Eliseeva.

300 Paintings, Created and performed by Sam Kissajukian; Produced by Sally Horchow and Matt Ross in association with Octopus Theatricals; Presented by American Repertory Theater at Farkas Hall in Cambridge, MA through October 25, 2025.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

Aussie comedian Sam Kissajukian didn’t know anything about art when he quit stand-up comedy four years ago. During his 10-year career, he toured throughout Australia, Europe, the UK, and the USA. Despite his success, he confessed, “I just did whatever the audiences wanted me to do, and I hated it. I hated myself.” For him, comedy had become performative and superficial – “It made me feel invisible inside.” After abandoning his comedy career, Kissajukian devoted himself to painting. What he didn’t know at the time was that he had been living with bipolar disorder, and he was about to enter into a brutal six-month manic episode that would completely sever him from reality.

Wilbury Theatre Group’s ‘From Here to Where’ Offers Strangely Fascinating Reflections on Being Alive

September 21, 2025April 10, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Cast of Wilbury Theatre Group’s ‘From Here to Where’. Photos by Erin X. Smithers

From Here to Where (world premiere), Book by Umberto Crenca, Music by The Gillen Street Ensemble; Video Design by Jacob Dixon, Lighting Design by Andy Russ, Set Design by Monica Shinn, Stage Managed by Maxime Hendrikse Liu. Produced by Wilbury Theatre Group (WTG) at 475 Valley Street in Providence, RI. Plays through October 5, 2025.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

When you walk through the door at the Wilbury Theatre, you are drawn in by the soulful, bluesy, rock-like sounds of The Gillen Street Ensemble (GSE), a Providence-based music collaborative. You have been invited to their basement jam session, which has a definite mood. The vibe is loose and cool as the musicians playfully improvise. In this basement of curiosities, designed by Monica Shinn, you find many strange and quirky objects: a dinosaur-sized egg on wheels, a rubber chicken, a comically large skeleton, a giant light bulb, a megaphone, a gong, and dozens of other unusual items. What does this mean, you wonder. What is this about?

Huntington’s ‘Common Ground, Revisited’ Asks Us to Look Back In Order to Move Forward

June 13, 2022April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

The cast of *Common Ground Revisited* at The Huntington. Photos: T Charles Erickson

by Julie-Anne Whitney

Common Ground, Revisited – Co-conceived and adapted by Kirsten Greenidge; co-conceived and directed by Melia Bensussen; set design by Sara Brown; costume design by An-lin Dauber; lighting design by Brian J. Lilienthal; sound design by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca; projection design by Rasean Davonté Johnson; wig/hair and makeup design by J. Jared Janas; dramaturgy by Neema Avashia; stage-managed by Emily F. McMullen. Co-produced by The Huntington Theatre and ArtsEmerson at the Calderwood Pavilion/BCA through July 3, 2022.

Kirsten Greenidge’s new play, Common Ground, Revisited is inspired by and based in part on J. Anthony Lukas’1986 Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction book, Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families. The primary focus of both texts is on class and racial tensions in Boston during the 1974 busing crisis when U.S. District Judge Arthur Garrity Jr. ordered nearly 20,000 Black and white students to be bused to/from the city’s geographically segregated public schools. The mandate led to years of violent protesting, significant demographic changes in the city and surrounding suburbs, and a dramatic decrease in enrollment in area schools that continues to this day. Fifty years after the 1972 Morgan v Hennigan case that led to Garrity’s ruling, Boston’s public schools are even more divided than they were back then with “two-thirds of BPS students attend[ing] intensely segregated schools where students of color make up 90% or more of the total enrollment.”

SpeakEasy’s ‘The Inheritance’ is a Beautifully Realized Production of an Ambitious and Imperfect Play

May 3, 2022April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Jared Reinfeldt (left center), Eddie Shields (right center), and members of the cast of SpeakEasy Stage’s ‘The Inheritance’. Photos by Nile Scott Studios.

by Julie-Anne Whitney

‘The Inheritance’ – Written by Matthew López; directed by Paul Daigneault; movement and intimacy direction by Yo-El Cassell; scenic design by Cristina Todesco; costume design by Charles Schoonmaker; lighting design by Karen Perlow; sound design by Dewey Dellay; stage-managed by Thomas M. Kauffman. Produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the BCA/Calderwood Pavilion through June 11, 2022.

Matthew López’s Tony Award-winning play, The Inheritance, loosely transposes E.M. Forster’s 1910 novel, Howard’s End, to 21st Century New York where Forster (a closeted gay man all his life) acts as a spiritual guide to a group of young gay men, teaching them the art of effective storytelling. The group then collectively narrates the fictional tale of three generations of gay men from different social and economic backgrounds whose lives become inexplicably linked by way of friendship, betrayal, loss, and love. The story they write follows 50-something billionaire real estate owner Henry and his long-time partner Walter, both of whom become emotionally tied to 35-year-old activist Eric, whose self-destructive playwright boyfriend, Toby, falls for their new actor friend, Adam. Toby ends up befriending and becoming lovers with a lonely 19-year-old sex worker named Leo, who later is saved by Eric’s unwavering kindness.

Arlekin Players’ ‘Witness’ Unflinchingly Details the Jewish Experience

December 15, 2021April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Arlekin Players ‘Witness’ (virtual)

by Julie-Anne Whitney

‘Witness’– Written by Nana Grinstein with Igor Golyak and Blair Cadden; conceived and directed by Igor Golyak; scenography and costume design by Anna Fedorova; virtual design by Daniel Cormino; sound design by Victor Semenov; editing by Anton Nikolaev; cinematography by Austin de Besche; dramaturgy by Blair Cadden; stage managed by Kendyl Trott. This world premiere production runs at the (zero-G) Virtual Theater Lab through January 23, 2022.

“Where do unwanted people go?” This is the question that Arlekin Players Theater is asking us to consider in their new virtual documentary theater piece, Witness.

Set on a ship that travels through time, Witness explores the seemingly endless migratory experiences of Jewish people throughout history. The source material for the script comes from historical letters, journals, and newspaper articles as well as recent interviews with immigrants and refugees from around the world. The story, written by Nana Grinstein, is inspired by the 1939 transatlantic voyage of the M.S. St. Louis. With over 900 Jewish refugees on board, the St. Louis was cruelly turned away from ports in Cuba, Canada, and the U.S., and ultimately forced to return to Europe. Of the more than 500 passengers who became trapped in Nazi-controlled countries, 254 of them were killed in concentration camps.

Speakeasy’s Chilling ‘The Children’ Asks the Hard Questions

March 6, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

(Tyrees Allen, Paula Plum, and Karen MacDonald in Speakeasy Stage’s ‘The Children’ – Photos by Maggie Hall Photography)

By Julie-Anne Whitney

‘The Children’ Written by Lucy Kirkwood; Directed by Bryn Boice; Scenic Design by Cristina Todesco; Costume Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg; Sound Design by David Remedios; Stage managed by Rachel Sturm. Produced by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the BCA Calderwood Pavilion through March 28, 2020.

Inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Eastern Japan – started by an earthquake which caused a tsunami that led to the death of 19,000 people – Lucy Kirkwood’s Tony-nominated play The Children is a blistering commentary on the global environmental devastation caused by human progress and development.

Hazel (Paula Plum) and her husband, Robin (Tyrees Allen), are nuclear physicists who have relocated to a dilapidated cottage just outside the exclusion zone of the local nuclear power plant. The recent “disaster” at the plant forced them to abandon their family home and into early retirement. When their former colleague, Rose (Karen MacDonald), shows up unannounced, the lifeless cottage is suddenly filled with tension, jealousy, and intrigue.

A Magical Theatrical Experience with Arlekin’s ‘The Fisherman and the Fish’

March 3, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

*‘The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish’* – *Presented by Arlekin Players Theatre*

By Julie-Anne Whitney

‘The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish’ – Written by Alexander Pushkin; Directed by Evgeny Ibragimov; Set, Costume, and Puppet Design by Ksenya Litvak; Masks designed by Katya Popova; Original Music by Nikolay Yakimov; Lighting Design by Stephen Petrilli; Stage managed by Inessa Ostrova. Presented by Arlekin Players Theatre in Needham, MA through April 12, 2020.

Please note: this is a non-verbal 60-minute performance suitable for ages 4 and up.

The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish is a fable published in 1833 by acclaimed Russian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer, Aleksandr Pushkin. The story has been translated into several languages and adapted into many other art forms (paintings, poems, short stories, ballets, songs, animated films, and plays), perhaps most famously by the Brothers Grimm in their German fairy tale version, The Fisherman and His Wife (1905).

Imaginary Beasts Offers Fanciful Family Fun with Hansel & Gretel Panto

February 12, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

By Julie-Anne Whitney

Hansel & Gretel (Winter 2020 Panto) – Written and directed by Matthew Woods; costume design by Cotton Talbot-Minkin; set design by Lillian P.H. Kology; lighting design by Michaela Carmela Bocchino; puppet design by Elizabeth Owens and Jill Rogati; stage and production management by Sophia Giordano. Produced by Imaginary Beasts at the Charlestown Working Theater through March 1, 2020.

The British Panto has been a popular holiday tradition in the U.K. since the early 1700s. For those who don’t know, a panto is a rowdy, interactive Vaudevillian style of musical theater which starts with a simple children’s story (such as Cinderella, Snow White, or Jack and the Beanstalk, etc.) and is then transformed into an over-the-top slapstick comedy piece with contemporary references, a bit of improvisation, an educational element, and enough creative humor to please both the children and the grownups.

Huntington’s ‘Sweat’ – The Dark Side of American Dream

February 8, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

*Cast of the Huntington Theatre Company’s ‘Sweat’ – Photos: T. Charles Erickson*

By Julie-Anne Whitney

Sweat – Written by Lynn Nottage; Directed by Kimberly Senior; Scenic Design by Cameron Anderson; Costume Design by Junghyun Georgia Lee; Lighting Design by D.M. Wood; Original Music and Sound Design by Pornchanok Kanchanabanca; fight choreography by Ted Hewlett; stage managed by Emily F. McMullen. Produced by the Huntington Theatre Company at 264 Huntington Avenue through March 1, 2020.

In 2011, intrigued by the news that Reading, Pennsylvania (population 88,000) was named the poorest city per capita in America, playwright Lynn Nottage went to Berks County in search of a story. Throughout the next two years, she interviewed dozens of factory employees, business owners, social workers, members of law enforcement, and government officials. These interviews inspired Nottage to write her Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Sweat, which offers a transparent, unflinching view of what can happen to communities when powerful corporations prioritize profits over people.

It’s a Mad, Mad (Victorian) World in Central Square’s ‘Vanity Fair’

February 5, 2020April 8, 2026 Julie-Anne WhitneyLeave a comment

Cast of Nora Theatre’s ‘Vanity Fair; at Central Square Theatre

By Julie-Anne Whitney

Vanity Fair (an im-morality play) – Written by Kate Hamill, adapted from William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel; direction and scenic design by David R. Gammons; lighting design by Jeff Adelberg; sound design by David Wilson; costume design by Leslie Held; properties coordinated by Ciara McAloon; dramaturgy by Hilary Rappaport; stage managed by Elizabeth Yyvette Ramirez. Produced by Underground Railway Theater through February 23, 2020 at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA.

William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fairwas first published in 1847 as a 19-volume serial novel released in monthly installments for Punch, a British magazine known for its satirical content. The 800-page work was published in a single volume in 1848 with the subtitle A Novel Without A Hero. Arguably Thackeray’s most successful and enduring work, Vanity Fair has been adapted into radio broadcasts, silent and sound films, television series, and plays.