Seven new portraits by Elizabeth Whelan are featured in her show “In Character,” at the M.V. Playhouse through July 18. “I’ve painted local actors in their favorite roles,” she says. The show includes sketches that were the initial concepts for the paintings. “These sketches are on display along with the 30- by 40-inch paintings, and the paintings changed in some ways from sketch to final version, as I contemplated the ephemeral nature of theater and representation. But this shows my starting point with each of the characters.”
The actors featured are Shelagh Hackett as Caesar, in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”; Molly Conole as herself, in her one-woman performance “Seaglass, Quilts, and Song”; Molly Purves as Maggie, in Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”; Victoria Campbell as Masha, in Chekhov’s “Three Sisters”; Mona Hennessy, as Winnie, in Beckett’s “Happy Days”; Amy Sabin Barrow, as Lady Macbeth, in Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”; and Paul Munafo, as Antonio, in Gwyn McAllister’s “Passionata.”
Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, 24 Church St., Vineyard Haven. 508-696-6300. info@mvplayhouse.org.