About This Show
The Stolen Chair Theatre Company presents Virtuosa, a collective creation freely inspired by the lives and work of three female painters of the Renaissance: Sofonisba Anguissola, Lavinia Fontana, and Artemisia Gentileschi. Written by Kiran Rikhye, and directed by Jon Stancato.
Exploring gender, genius, and the forces that shape them both, Stolen Chair colors outside of the lines, featuring a cast of characters including an omniscient portraitist, two Catholic saints, a sea captain, a freak-show oddity, and three painters striving toward greatness. A world-premiere original script is complemented by period costumes, rare primary source texts from the artists’ lives, full-scale reproductions of their work, and Stolen Chair’s trademark physicality. An ensemble of five actors portrays twenty characters, accompanied by live music and flying paint.
