Town Players of Newtown continues its strong 2025 season with an intense, gripping production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

The classic American drama draws viewers into the complex marriage of George (being played by Aaron Kaplan), a middle-aged associate professor of history, and his wife Martha (Erica Lynne Evelti), the daughter of the president of the college where George teaches.

The couple returns home late one evening from a faculty party, at which time Martha reveals she has invited a young married couple she met at the party, Nick and Honey (Andrew Blanchard and Amy Strachan, respectively), over for a drink. As the alcohol flows, Martha and George engage in scathing verbal abuse of each other in front of Nick and Honey. Although the interactions embarrass the younger couple, they decide to stay, inexorably drawn into the older couple’s bitter and frustrated relationship.

The audience is just as drawn into the relationship thanks to the Town Players taking advantage of the small stage of The Little Theater and turning it into an cozy living area. George and Martha reside on the campus of a small New England college, and their house truly feels lived in. The cool green walls lined with leather chairs, pictures of potted plants, and adequately stacked bookshelves feels like a living room anyone could be dragged into.

As the play draws on and alcohol fans the flames of rage and deceit, however, the environment feels less intimate than it does claustrophobic. It is almost as though you are stuck in one of the leather chairs, a voyeur to the unraveling of two seemingly sophisticated couples. Kudos to everyone who worked on and contributed to the set design for the show.

The costume design by Frank Arnone also enhances the show. Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? isn’t just about anyone, it is about people who are inextricably tied to wealth as much as they are to internal dissatisfaction with their lives. The classy but understated formal wear, from a sleek suit and undershirt to solid color dresses paired with pearl necklaces, help all four cast members come off as well-off and confident. As soon as the jackets and shoes come off, so, too, do the walls sheltering their anger and insecurities.

Being such an intense character-driven play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a show that lives and dies on its starring cast. All four cast members in this production deliver and then some.

Kaplan as George may come off as unassuming with his suspenders, but the way his demeanor matches his emotions make the character feel haunting. His George shifts from being so exhausted with his wife that he collapses onto the sofa and haphazardly leans his head back to smirking and looming over her when he gets the upper hand. For as much as George frustrates the audience with his egoist attitude, it is in the quiet, solemn moments when Kaplan screams or stares at Martha when she betrays him that draw sympathy.

Evelti is a fantastic Martha. You can tell she has a blast playing into the character’s loud vulgarity, carrying herself with energy of a “fun aunt” that has had one too many drinks. She is such a delight every time she rolls into the living room or tries to one up George.

Evelti’s confidence when Martha gets the upper hand crumbles in the scenes where George runs the show. Her smirk so easily breaks into a distressed sob, which makes the end of the show where she and George are perhaps at their most quiet and vulnerable all the more heart wrenching.

Blanchard acts as the perfect Nick, carrying himself with a calm and collected aura that bounces off every other character’s craziness. Even his tone and voice comes off as very suave, as though everything about him is calculated and self-assured. This parallels Kaplan’s George, whose character tears into Nick for coming off as a smug, pretentious man. It’s when Blanchard’s character loses himself to his own anger and inhibitions that he becomes even more entertaining to watch.

Strachan as Honey doesn’t round out the cast so much as she is the perfect missing piece for the rest of the ensemble. She charms in bringing out Honey’s naïveté, spinning around or diving into drama and conversation with an enthusiastic attitude and endearing, wide smile.

It’s hard to not love her, even if her character spends a good portion of the show sick in the bathroom. Seeing Honey break down and scream only hits so hard because Strachan makes her so loveable.

Performances of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? continue weekends through October 11. For more information, tickets, and show times, visit newtownplayers.org.

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.