Portraiture
A new play written & directed by Margaret Van Sant
Helltown Players is proud to present the world premiere of Portraiture, a sharp, witty, and thought-provoking new play by Margaret Van Sant.
Set in the Rare Reading Room of Yale’s Beinecke Library, Portraiture follows art historian Sylvia Santos as she leads a tour through a striking new exhibit. On display: portraits of three extraordinary women—Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and Mabel Dodge Luhan—captured by modernist painters at the height of their influence.
But as Sylvia delves into their stories, the room fills with questions. What do these portraits reveal? What do they leave out? And who gets the final say on how a life is remembered?
With humor, intelligence, and a deep curiosity about art and identity, Portraiture invites us to reexamine the lives behind the legends—and the stories we tell about them.
Critical Raves…
“‘Portraiture’ gives contemporary audiences a thoroughly entertaining opportunity to see how the lives of three brilliant, trailblazing women not only changed the course of history, but continue to inform and impact contemporary culture. Exactly what our troubled world needs right now.”
- Boston Spirit Magazine
Venue:
The Art House
214 Commercial Street
Provincetown, Massachusetts 02657
Dates / Times:
October 15 - 18 (Wed. - Sat.) at 7:00pm
October 19 (Sun.) at 2:00pm
Tickets:
Tickets: $10.00 - $40.00
Cast:
To be announced…
Creative Team:
Margaret Van Sant - Playwright & Director
Jim Dalglish - Dramaturge / Producer
John Killwey - Set Design & Construction
Tami Trask - Costume Design
Producing Partner:
Rainbow Event Productions
Creative Team Bios
(Alphabetical by last name:)
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
Margaret Van Sant
Playwright / Director
Margaret is the Artistic Director of Provincetown Dramatic Arts and a Trustee of Helltown Players. She established the PDA development project, the O’Neill Festival of New Works. Margaret 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 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. She is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. A special thanks to Jim Dalglish, my dramaturge (who makes it fun), Helltown Players, Will and Vanessa.
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.
Produced in partnership with: