Productions

Season 17: conversation (2024 – 2025)

Fri, September 20, 2024, 7:30 pm
Sat, September 21, 2024, 7:30 pm
Sun, September 22, 2024, 2:00 pm

BNH Stage, Concord, NH

Life staggers. Life confounds. Life is beautiful. And LIFE SUCKS.

A group of old friends, ex-lovers, estranged in-laws, and lifelong enemies gather to grapple with life’s thorniest questions—and each other. What could possibly go wrong? Incurably lustful and lonely, hapless and hopeful, these seven souls collide and stumble their way towards a new understanding that LIFE SUCKS! Or does it?

From the mind of Aaron Posner, author of Stupid F*#king Bird, comes this brash and revelatory reworking of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Never has unhappiness been so much fun.

Running Time: 2 hours plus intemission.

Show Details

ASL interpretation at the Sunday, September 22, 2 pm performance

Braille programs available at all performances.

*Content Transparency: Strong Language, Adult Situations, Gunshots. Recommended for ages 13+.

Life Sucks. by Aaron Posner
Sort of adapted from Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov

Babs… Deirdre Bridge
Sonia… Emma Cahoon
Dr. Aster… Peter Josephson
Pickles… Rachael Longo
The Professor… Walter Maroney
Ella… Katie Proulx
Vanya… Glenn Provost

Directed by Matt Cahoon
Stage Managed by Carey Cahoon
Intimacy Choreography by Samantha Griffin
Fight Direction by Kyrie Ellison
Lighting Design by Tayva Young
Costume Design by Barbara Holbrook
Scenic Design by Matt Cahoon

Why this play, why now?

“As a theatre company we are always asking ‘Why this play? And, why now?’” says show Artistic Director Matt Cahoon. “I think that over the past several years we have all found moments to say ‘Life Sucks’ and it seems to me that in almost all cases, the way to make life suck just a little bit less is to make connections with other people. While far from being a perfect family, we do see in this play a group of people connected by a shared history, a desire for connection, and a hope that things can get better.”

Playing Posner again

This is the second time that tKAPOW has produced one of Posner’s adaptations of Chekhov’s plays. The company’s incredibly successful 2016 production of Stupid F-ing Bird was hailed by critics as “exquisite theatre, writ large by a company at the top of their game” (Caught in the Act Blog). Actress Deirdre Bridge was in that production in the role of Emma Arkadina, and is also performing in Life Sucks. “At its core, Stupid F%cking Bird reminded us that all of our actions have repercussions for others; whether our acts are brazen or subtle, loving or hurtful, our interconnectedness is inescapable,” she said. “Aaron Posner is just so good at writing what happens between people, in the negative spaces among us.”

Aaron Posner is an award-winning director, playwright, teacher, and former Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre and New Jersey’s Two River Theatre. He has directed more than 150 productions at major regional theaters across the country including virtually every theatre in the DC area. As a playwright, his re-imaging of Chekhov’s The Seagull, entitled Stupid F**king Bird, was one of the ten most produced plays in the country in 2015 and has had more than 150 productions worldwide. Other plays include The Heal, JQA, Life Sucks, No Sisters, District Merchants, Who Am I This Time? & Other Conundrums of Love, The Chosen, My Name Is Asher Lev, The Gift of Nothing, Me…Jane: The Dreams & Adventures of Young Jane Goodall, and many more.>

Every Brilliant Thing

Fri, February 7, 2025, 7:30 pm
Sat, February 8, 2025, 7:30 pm
Sun, February 9, 2025, 2:00 pm

BNH Stage, Concord, NH

Fri, February 21, 2025, 7:30 pm
Sat, February 22, 2025, 7:30 pm
Sun, February 23, 2025, 2:00 pm

Winnipesaukee Playhouse, Meredith, NH

Rediscover all that life has to give.

You’re six years old. Mum’s in hospital. Dad says she’s “done something stupid.” She finds it hard to be happy. So you start to make a list of everything that’s brilliant about the world. Everything that’s worth living for.

  1. Ice cream
  2. Water fights
  3. Staying up past your bedtime and being able to watch TV.
  4. The color yellow
  5. Things with stripes

You leave it on her pillow. You know she’s read it because she’s corrected your spelling. Soon, the list will take on a life of its own.

  1. Laughing so hard you shoot milk out of your nose
  2. Knowing someone well enough to get them to check your teeth for broccoli

This surprising and immersive theatrical experience speaks openly about depression, mental illness and suicide. With poignant humor and joy, Every Brilliant Thing takes us on a journey through grief, healing, falling in love, and rediscovering all that life has to give.

Storyteller…Carey Cahoon (2/8, 2/21 and 2/23)
Storyteller…Peter Josephson (2/7, 2/9 and 2/22)

Running Time: 80 minutes.

ASL interpretation at the Sunday, February 9, 2 pm performance

Braille programs available at all performances.

theatre KAPOW has partnered with Future in Sight to develop a theatrical experience inclusive of blind and low vision audiences. Future in Sight

Show Details

*Content Transparency: Verbal descriptions of depression, self-harm, suicide and suicidal ideations. There will be some warm and inclusive audience participation.

Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan, with Jonny Donahoe

Storyteller…Carey Cahoon (2/8, 2/21 and 2/23)
Storyteller…Peter Josephson (2/7, 2/9 and 2/22)

Directed by Emma Cahoon
Costume Design by Barbara Holbrook

Why this play, why now?

“This is a play that we have loved for many years,” says Artistic Director, Matt Cahoon, “it is a play that gnaws at you emotionally.”  In a polarized and often isolating world, the play’s format, which involves direct audience participation, emphasizes shared vulnerability and collective healing. This dovetails perfectly with tKAPOW’s season theme—conversation. “Duncan Macmillan brilliantly breaks down barriers between performer and audience member,” Cahoon says,  “reminding both of the power of community.” The play’s central theme—the creation of a list of “brilliant things” that make life worth living—resonates strongly in a time when many people feel overwhelmed by global crises (climate change, political divisions, economic uncertainty, etc.). By focusing on small, everyday joys, the play offers a reminder that, even in difficult times, there are reasons to hope and appreciate life.

Breathing in the work of Duncan Macmillan again

Every Brilliant Thing is the second play by Duncan Macmillan that tKAPOW has produced. tKAPOW’s 2015 production of Lungs was a heartbreaking and hilarious examination of the perils of parenthood in an uncertain age. tKAPOW company member said of Lungs, “I can see light and often hear music when reading a play and the only sound I heard when reading this play was a heartbeat.” Macmillan’s beautiful and evocative writing will once again take center stage in Every Brilliant Thing.

Duncan Macmillian is an award-winning writer and theatre director whose plays include LungsEvery Brilliant Thing and 2071 (all published by Oberon Books). His play People, Places and Things transferred from the National Theatre to the West End in 2016. Duncan Macmillan’s other plays include: 1984, co-adapted/co-directed with Robert Icke (Headlong/Nottingham Playhouse, UK tour, Almeida Theatre and West End), The Forbidden Zone (Salzburg Festival/Schaubühne Berlin), Wunschloses Unglück, adaptation with Peter Handke (Burgtheater Vienna), Reise durch die Nacht, adaptation Friederike Mayröcker created with Katie Mitchell and Lyndsey Turner (Schauspielhaus Köln, Theatertreffen, Festival d’Avignon), Atmen (Schaubühne Berlin), Monster (Royal Exchange/Manchester International Festival).

Fri, June 13, 2025, 7:30 pm
Sat, June 14, 2025, 7:30 pm
Sun, June 15, 2025, 2:00 pm

BNH Stage, Concord, NH

A theatrical road trip across more than just state lines

In this funny, wise, and heartbreaking debut from Emily Feldman, a daughter’s road trip with her father becomes a theatrical journey across more than just state lines. Though 30-something Ella has nearly given up on life, she agrees to accompany her father Lou on a long-distance trip to adopt a rescue dog. Guided by a narrator called Maps and interspersed with memories and phone calls from Ella’s mother, Peg, their journey reveals hard truths as their pasts slowly rise to the surface. NH premiere.

Running Time: 90 minutes

Show Details

*Content Transparency: references to suicide and discussions of sexual harassment.

The Best We Could (a family tragedy) by Emily Feldman

Artist Info coming soon.

Get In Touch

5 + 13 =

Skip to content