World Premiere!

Helltown Players proudly present the world premiere of Portraiture, an original play written and directed by Cape Cod playwright Margaret Van Sant. The production opens Friday, May 2 at 7:30 PM at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, followed by a second run later this month at Cotuit Center for the Arts.

A Brand-new Theatrical Event…

Sharp, witty, and thought-provoking, Portraiture invites audiences into the Rare Reading Room of Yale’s Beinecke Library, where Sylvia Santos, a once-celebrated art historian, leads a tour of portraits depicting three revolutionary women—Gertrude Stein (painted by Francis Picabia), Alice B. Toklas (painted by Dora Maar), and Mabel Dodge Luhan (painted by Mary Foote). As Sylvia grapples with her own career setbacks and financial struggles, she begins to unpack the complicated legacies of these larger-than-life figures—and discovers that history is anything but silent.

Karen McPherson as Alice B. Toklas, Kristin Stewart as Sylvia Santos, Anna Botsford as Mabel Dodge Luhan, and Kathleen Larson Day as Gertrude Stein.

Visibility and Memory…

At its heart, Portraiture is about visibility, memory, and the urgent need to rewrite stories that have long been misunderstood or ignored. As the play’s tagline boldly proclaims:
"Three legendary women shaped history. Now they demand a rewrite."

An Outstanding Creative Team and Cast…

Written and directed by Margaret Van Sant, Portraiture features a stellar cast:

Kristin Stewart as Sylvia Santos
Kathleen Larson Day as Gertrude Stein
Karen McPherson as Alice B. Toklas
Anna Botsford as Mabel Dodge Luhan

The production team includes Jim Dalglish (Dramaturge/Producer), John Killwey (Set Design and Construction), Bill Jacobs (Design and Construction Assistant), Caitlin Nicholson (Lighting Design and Stage Management), and Tami Trask (Costume Design).

A Collaboration Across Art Forms…

Portraiture is presented in partnership with the Cape Cod Museum of Art and Cotuit Center for the Arts, and runs alongside the Museum’s exhibit She Said: A Docent-Curated Exhibition Celebrating Women Artists from the CCMoA Permanent Collection. This unique collaboration highlights Helltown Players’ mission to support Cape Cod artists and playwrights by bringing new, original work to the stage.

"This is what Helltown Players is all about—supporting local playwrights by producing their plays," says dramaturge and producer Jim Dalglish. "It’s been thrilling to watch Margaret develop this piece through readings and workshops."

Performance Details:

Cape Cod Museum of Art
D’Alessandro Auditorium
60 Hope Lane, Dennis, MA 02638
Tickets: $28.00–$34.00

Friday, May 2 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 3 at 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
Sunday, May 4 at 2:00 PM

CCMoA TICKETS

Cotuit Center for the Arts
Sigel Black Box Theater
4404 Falmouth Road, Cotuit, MA 02635
Tickets: $28.00–$34.00

Thursday, May 22 at 7:30 PM
Friday, May 23 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 24 at 7:30 PM
Thursday, May 29 at 7:30 PM
Friday, May 30 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 31 at 7:30 PM
Sunday, June 1 at 2:00 PM

CCftA TICKETS

Creative Team Bios…

Kristin Stewart
Sylvia Santos
Kristin has been a performer since her start at the Harwich Junior Theatre in 1983. She has worked professionally as a circus clown with the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus and in many theaters across the country. She has performed at Cotuit Center for the Arts in Black Comedy, A Tuna Christmas, and Much Ado About Nothing. A firm believer in laughter as the best medicine, she was also a proud member of the Laughter League, bringing light and joy into area children's hospitals. Kristin is a founding member of ASA theatre ensemble. She is delighted to be working with this incredible group of women and to be a part of the Helltown Players.

Kathleen Larson Day
Gertrude Stein
Kathleen is a wash ashore from the Boston MetroWest area. Prior to reluctantly adulting, she performed professionally in theater and opera houses throughout the US. Kathleen feels incredibly lucky to be welcomed into the Cape Cod theater family and privileged to be back on stage in this important play with this talented cast and team. Locally, she has performed at CotuitCenter for the Arts (Grease, The World Goes Round) and The Eventide Theatre Company (A Grand Night for Singing, The Importance of Being Earnest, The World Goes Round, Blithe Spirit, Company, Our Town). Thank you Helltown Players, Jim, Margaret, Chuck and of course, Gertie.

Karen McPherson
Alice B. Toklas
Karen has been performing on Cape Cod stages from Provincetown to Cotuit since washing ashore in 1996. She is delighted to work with this amazing cast and join the Helltown Players. Among her favorite roles are Daisy (Driving Miss Daisy APA, CCftA, BCC), Professor van Helsing (Passion of Dracula, CDG), Lady Bracknell (Importance of Being Earnest, APA), Linda Loman (Death of a Salesman, ETC), Nurse (Romeo and Juliet, CCCC), Pip (Moby Dick, the Musical CCftA), Mother (Sunday in the Park with George, CCftA), and…well, there have been over 75 shows in 29 years, and, frankly, they are ALL favorites! Karen is a happy Cape Cod actor.

Anna Botsford
Mabel Dodge Luhan
Anna was most recently seen at Cape Cod Theatre Company in The Jungle Book and Dracula, as well as at Cotuit Center for the Arts in The Helltown Players production of the one woman show, The Playground. Before that she performed the one-woman show Grounded (2021 & 2017, Winner: Best Actress - Broadway World). Other CCftA Credits include: A Talented Woman, Unsafe (IRNE Nomination), Boston Marriage, and The 39 Steps. Other Cape area credits include Bedside Manners at BCC, Church at Harbor Stage Company and The Lear Project at CCTC. Anna is a graduate of the Emerson College Theatre Education Program and is a former company member of Theatre Espresso in Boston and a founding member of ASA Theatre Company here on Cape. She is currently the IB Theatre teacher and STAGE Director at the Sturgis Charter Public School West Campus.

Margaret Van Sant
Playwright / Director
Margaret is a playwright, theater director, festival organizer, educator, and the Artistic Director of Provincetown Dramatic Arts. She has directed classic and contemporary theater, but has a special focus on the development of new scripts. At Long Wharf Theater she managed the Stage II program of new script development, and at the PTC she established the Playwright’s Lab and the Provincetown Playwright’s Festival.

She produces the annual Women’s International Theater Festival. She has directed at Virginia Stage Company, Long Wharf Theater, Arena Stage, Yale University (National Conference on Portuguese Theater), Yale Cabaret, Berkshire Theater Festival, University of Massachusetts/ Dartmouth, City Studio Theater, Payomet Center for the Performing Arts, and Provincetown Theater.

For the past four years she has taken a play by a Cape playwright to the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival and in turn has brought a play from the IDGTF to Provincetown for performances. Some favorite productions are ANNA CHRISTIE by Eugene O’Neill at the Wharf House at the Provincetown Marina, THE BALLAD OF THE SAD CAFÉ by Edward Albee at Arena Stage, THE TALE OF THE ALLERGIST’S WIFE by Charles Busch and VENUS IN FUR by David Ives at the Provincetown Theater, and HOPPER’S GHOSTS by Kevin Rice at Payomet Center for the Arts.

Van Sant organized the Centennial Celebration of The Provincetown Players, THEN AND NOW, where she directed THE SNIPER by Eugene O’Neill. She is a past member of the Provincetown Theater Board and directed their Rat Pack Lounge New Year’s Gala in 2015 and 2016.

She is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and a past member of the Playwright’s Forum in Washington, DC and the Provincetown Playwrights Lab. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College.

Jim Dalglish
Dramaturge / Founder / Producing Artistic Director / Trustee
Jim is a playwright, director, filmmaker, and producer with more than 30 plays and films to his credit. These works have been produced and screened around the world and have won awards in New York, Boston, London, and Dublin. A few of his plays have been anthologized in best play collections. Jim has directed more than two dozen theatrical productions, five of which he also independently produced. He has been employed by a variety of theaters in New England as a managing director, marketing director, and box office manager. Jim has a master’s degree in creative writing/ playwriting from Brown University. His thesis advisor was Paula Vogel. When he isn’t busy writing, directing, or producing plays and films, he and his husband Rob Phelps enjoy sailing Delphina – their 17-foot O’Day Daysailer – along the sheltered harbors of New England.

John G. Killwey
Set Design & Construction
After 23 years in corporate business focusing on claims legal, John transitioned into the entertainment industry, co-producing the independent feature film When the Moon Was Twice as Big with his husband, Bill Jacobs. As co-owner of Shooting Star Creativeworks, a media production company, John has coordinated with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG/AFTRA), scouted locations, and used his expertise in carpentry and design to craft exceptional movie sets and props. Since relocating to Cape Cod, John has expanded his creative pursuits, producing set pieces for critically acclaimed theatrical productions. For him, life is a creative adventure—and he's loving every moment of it!

Bill Jacobs
Design and Construction Assistant
Bill Jacobs is a director, writer, cinematographer and producer living full-time in Wellfleet, MA. Bill worked many years at Columbia, Warner Bros., and Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles before starting his media production company, Shooting Star Creativeworks. Currently, Bill is in the final stages of postproduction on the independent feature film, When the Moon Was Twice as Big, a project that he wrote and directed, and coproduced with his husband, John Killwey.

Robin Joyce Miller
Script Consultant
Robin Joyce Miller is a retired educator, artist, author, poet, and public speaker, who taught for 30+ years in the NYC school system. She spent the first half of her career teaching learning disabled students and the next half as an art teacher. Miller was also a NYC Blueprint for the Arts Facilitator, leading workshops at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Whitney Museum.

After retirement she and her husband have maintained two residences in NYC and Cape Cod. After George Floyd’s murder, Robin and her husband, James, began presenting a BLM Series with the Cotuit Center for the Arts. These programs focus on African/African American history and are available to the public on Cotuit on Demand - YouTube. She is on the Bd of Directors at the Cotuit Center. Miller is also a Peace and Racial Harmony advocate. She speaks at churches, schools, universities, and libraries on the subject of race. You can view more of Robin’s work on www.robinjoycemillerart.com.

Tami Trask Good
Costume Design
Tami has been costuming productions at various local theaters for more than 30 years, including recently Pippin and The Importance of Being Earnest at Eventide Theatre Company and Fiddler on the Roof and Always, Patsy Cline at Cotuit Center for the Arts. When she’s not working in the theater, Tami works with private clients, specializing in creating custom garments, or is planning her latest home renovation project. It’s been a pleasure working with Jim again and for the first time with Margaret, and has enjoyed spending time with this talented and lovely cast!

Registered Nonprofit

Helltown Players is a nonprofit corporation registered with the state of Massachusetts and is a registered tax-exempt nonprofit under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRS).

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Portrait Permissions…

Gertrude Stein painted by Francis Picabia, Alice B. Toklas by Dora Maar, and Mabel Dodge Luhan by Mary Foote. Images used with the permission of the Yale University Library.

Portraiture Opens Friday May 2nd!