MAKE BELIEVE
July 24-August 10
Portland Stage Studio (25 Forest Ave Portland, ME, 04101)
It’s 1980 in the Conlee family’s attic playroom, and four young siblings—Chris, Kate, Carl and Addie—recreate their everyday lives in a colorful game of make believe. Just home from school, they expect snacks, unwind from the day, and irk one another. Everything seems ordinary—until it doesn’t. The children play and play, but where are the adults? Fast-forward 30 years and the kids are back–only this time the game’s over, and a troubled past needs reconciliation. Split into two halves set three decades apart, MAKE BELIEVE features four child actors and their adult counterparts in a provocative story that bends time, space, and narrative. Formally daring and eminently moving, MAKE BELIEVE is a thoughtful exploration of childhood and its lingering impact.
By Bess Wohl
Directed by Cait Robinson.
CAST & DIRECTOR
Jack Jones
Amélie Bolduc
Fleur Hussey
Asha Iranpour
Chris
Addie
Carl
Kate
Parker Hough
Adult Chris
Casey Turner
Catherine Buxton
Adult Kate
Adult Addie
Michael Dix Thomas
Adult Carl
Cait Robinson
Director
PLAYWRIGHT
BESS WOHL is a playwright and filmmaker whose recent play Liberation won the 2025 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play. Other plays include Grand Horizons (Tony Nominations for Best Play & Best Featured Actress, Outer Critics Circle Honor, Drama League Award nom); Make Believe (NYTimes Critic Pick, Best of 2019, Outer Critics Circle Honor); Continuity; Small Mouth Sounds; American Hero; Barcelona; Touched; In; Cats Talk Back and the musical Pretty Filthy with composer/lyricist Michael Friedman and The Civilians (Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Musical).
Wohl’s plays have been produced or developed at theaters including Second Stage, Manhattan Theater Club, Ars Nova, The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodman Theater and The Geffen Playhouse among many others. Awards and honors include the Sam Norkin special Drama Desk Award for “establishing herself as an important voice in New York theater,” multiple Outer Critics Circle honors, the Georgia Engell Comedy Playwriting Award from the Dramatists Guild, the Athena Award for her screenplay Virginia, MacDowell Fellowships and inclusion on Hollywood’s Black List of Best Screenplays. In her previous life as an actress, she appeared onstage in New York and regionally, and in numerous films and TV shows where she has given birth, solved crimes, committed crimes, been wrongly accused, and come back from the dead. She is a graduate of Harvard and the Yale School of Drama.
CREATIVE TEAM
Directed by Cait Robinson
Artistic & Executive Director: Dave Register
Managing Director & Production Stage Manager: Jenn London
Technical Director: Peter Bloom
Scenic Designer: Michael Lewis
Lighting Designer: Mary Lana Rice
Sound Design: Seth Asa Sengel
Costume Design: Izzy McClelland
Props Design: Adam Corriveau
Asst. Stage Manager: Sararose Willey
Asst. Stage Manager: Molly Wagner
Associate Producer: Emily Paruk
Associate Producer: Kimmarie McCrann
Casting: Kendall Cooper
Marketing & Communications: Tom Haushalter
Literary Director & New Works Programmer: Juliana Sass