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.