Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
by Edward Albee
The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
SEPTEMBER 5-27, 2026
Director
Assistant director
Scenic Designer
Costume Designer
Sound Designer
Lighting Designer
Fight Director
PRODUCTION Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Nisi Sturgis*
LAYLA Eygabroad
Sarah beth Hall
Daniel Ciba
Ariana Cardoza
Matthew J. Weisgable
David Anzuelo*‡
Jenna Gregson*
Anika Shirvaikar
CAST
(alphabetical)
George
Martha
Nick
Honey
Andrew Borba*
Abby Burris
Antoinette Lavecchia*
Michael Underhill*
*denotes Member of Actors’ Equity Association
‡ denotes Member of stage directors and choreographers society
PRODUCTION GALLERY
photos by Avery Brunkus
The Weeping Pleiads, by William Flanagan
[music at final moments of the play]
PRESS
Edward Albee's Towering ...Virginia Woolf Now at STNJ
“Nisi Sturgis has directed this with a feather-light touch. Don’t be afraid of ‘Virginia Woolf’ in her hands. She teases out the dark humor with the best each of these actors has to offer and the result is unlike any time I have seen this play before.”
Sherri Rase, urban telegraph
Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? @ The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey
[starts at 23:05]
“It’s terrific. It’s just marvelous. A true achievement.”
“The humor now is appreciated in a way it wasn’t back then. Now, it really is a laugh riot for a good amount of the play - but here’s where Nisi Sturgis is so magnificent in knowing exactly when to turn the knob and go into the serious parts - it’s not going to be funny much longer, it’s not going to be funny at all. It was so wonderful to see that perfectly calibrated by this Nisi Sturgis. Just an amazing achievement.”
“Wow. Wow. And I’m so glad I was able to attend.”
Peter Filichia, Broadway Radio
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at STNJ-A Compelling American Masterpiece
“Adroitly directed by Nisi Sturgis and featuring an awe-inspiring cast.”
Marina Kennedy, Broadway World
N.J. Shakespeare Theatre’s Virginia Woolf is wonderful adaptation breathing new life
“There are countless ways for a production of Albee’s masterpiece to go wrong, but director Nisi Sturgis’s wonderful version gets the play so very right. Sturgis and her excellent cast never get lost in the mayhem of this very drunken evening but rather harness the energy of the melee to probe ever deeper into these fascinating characters. In the process, the production celebrates all the greatness that makes this play such an enduring stalwart of the American theater canon.”
Patrick Maley, NJ.com
“While the play is long (just under three hours) and full of contention, the production never drags. Albee’s wit shines through, and his characters, while extreme, are deeply human… Although the play is set sixty years ago, I saw it as a timely and timeless warning about where such a modus vivendi, whatever the reason for it, ends. See it. Its humanity may startle you.”
Victoria Weisfeld, The Front Row Center
Kevin Coughlin, MorristownGreen
“The STNJ production, directed by Nisi Sturgis, delivers every bitter joke and tragic turn with maximum impact. It is hard to imagine anyone seeing this production and not immediately understanding why this play is considered such a landmark of American theater.”
Jay Lustig, NJ Arts
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at The Shakespeare Theatre of NJ
“‘This play is one of the most ferocious battles of love, wit, and creative power ever put on stage,’ said director Nisi Sturgis. ‘It is funny in every sense of the word — hilarious and peculiar. Thrilling as a car crash, its magnetism doesn’t let us look away as it explodes the facade to reveal raw truth.’”
Karen Nowosad, Let’s Go to the Theatre
Top Theater Performances to Catch in New Jersey This Fall: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Deborah P. Carter, NJ Monthly
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Explores Exploding Relationships
“At the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, director Nisi Sturgis brought a sensational, taut production to the stage.”
Liz Keill, TAPinto
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: fun and games at George and Martha’s
“The cast, under the sensitive direction of Nisi Sturgis, peel back the layers of their characters’ delusions and desires. No revelation is too shocking, yet each revelation is achingly inevitable. Sympathies shift from character to character as the long night unfolds, with each new bit of information changing our perceptions of what, underneath all the story-telling, is the core truth and what is the convenient cover story.”
Allen Neuner, Out In Jersey
MEDIA
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” - 1 Corinthians 13:7-8 ESV
One of the most common questions I’ve found audiences asking when experiencing this work is, “Why are they being so mean to each other?” Which only serves to spark more questions in me. I’ve been wondering about what it is to be mean - what meanness means. And why it occurs - what is gained: dominance, pain, being right? What are the positive actions of meanness: to catalyze, to motivate, to prompt, to arouse? And when is something else mistaken for meanness - when is meanness honesty, when is it balance (eye for an eye), when is it sexy, when is it a game?
Speaking of games - this play is made up of them. So what is a game? I know I’m always excited and a little scared when it’s time to play a game. Why do we play them? What do games reveal?
Later, Honey will cry, “Violence! Violence!” What is the nature of violence?
The living of life is dangerous. Games help us acquaint ourselves with danger. They blur the curtain of reality and, like the theatre, provide a "safe space," giving our meanness, our selfishness, competitiveness, violence etc. an acceptable context in which to reveal themselves. In Virginia Woolf, Edward Albee makes theatre and plays games, but deftly tests the safety of the space.
In an interview with Studs Terkel, Albee said, “We forget we are a revolutionary society at our core.” In revolution, which side is being mean? What is the revolution of this play? Of these characters? George and Martha are rebels, Nick and Honey haven’t yet allowed themselves to know who they are yet. This night, the night of our play, they allow themselves to flirt with danger and to realize themselves.
From a Westminster Town Hall Forum: Edward Albee - The Arts, Creativity And The Common Good, Albee says, “There is the censorship which is imposed from without by a totalitarian society, and then there is the censorship from within. The censorship that we impose upon ourselves. The choices we make to deny ourselves difficult and valuable choices. I think the second - the censorship that we impose upon ourselves - is far more dangerous than the censorship from without. We can always get rid of dictatorships. We cannot get rid as easily of a society that does not wish to live fully and dangerously in a democracy.”
As contentious as our current political/social climate is now, we’re still pretty uncomfortable with our revolutionary history. I mean, online fighting's pretty easy - but unmasked and in-person? And eloquence in arguments, eloquence in pain, is rarer than cursive.
All the brutality aside, there is deep love in this play. I believe love battles to make us better. I believe there is liberation in honesty, open dialogue, and the collaborative nature of play and playmaking. With all my questions, I believe the poetry and jazz of the play holds space for more truth than any answers I could articulate. Through bearing, believing, hoping, and enduring, this incredible play reveals itself.
Enjoy the fun and games.
