THE WHOLE OF TIME Sets Talk Backs With Kathleen Chalfant, Jaclyn Bethany, & More

A robust talk back series will follow select performances of The Whole of Time by celebrated Argentinian playwright Romina Paula in a translation by Jean Graham-Jones. Opening tonight, August 25, and running through September 20, 2025, this encore engagement is directed by downtown treasure Tony Torn and follows the play's 2024 U.S. premiere at Torn Page, which received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Adaptation. Performances take place at The Brick Theater (579 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn). Tickets, which start at $25, are now on sale at www.bricktheater.com. 

The Whole of Time takes Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie and spins it in new directions. In the play, a family’s fragile and very private life is about to change forever. The Whole of Time digs deep into questions of home and exile… physical, intellectual, and emotional.

Post-Show Talk Back Series Schedule

August 27 – director Inés Braun & actor and writer Liba Vaynberg

August 29  – choreographer Dan Safer
August 30 – Ryan Czerwonko, artistic director of Adult Film

September 1 – writer, director, and performer Jess Barbagallo 

September 2 – writer and director Sean Glass of the film and event series Reunion

September 3 – Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Kathleen Chalfant 

September 4 – producer and filmmaker Hugo Perez 

September 5 – playwright Joey Merlo & director and producer Theresa Buchheister 

September 6 – director Ash K. Tata 

September 8 – actor and director Adrian Martinez

September 9 – Frank Hentschker, Executive Director and Director of Programs at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the CUNY Graduate Center

September 16 – actress and Emmy award winning filmmaker Jaclyn Bethany

September 19 – director, editor, and translator April Sweeney & editor, translator, scholar Brenda Werth

“Romina Paula is one of Argentina’s most celebrated playwrights, winning critical acclaim both at home and abroad,” writes Brenda Werth in her forward to Fauna and Other Plays, the first collection of English translations of Paula’s plays, which Werth edited with April Sweeney. “Her carefully crafted and textually sophisticated plays move us to think about how we tell the stories of people’s lives. They offer nuanced explorations of gender, sexuality, feminism, and family. The plays defy traditional boundaries between the arts by engaging the different modes of production and the languages of theater, film, dance, music, and the visual arts. Her work explores the synergies between documentary and fiction, gender and biography, and the relationship between life, love, and art.” 

“Having my play staged in New York, a city where Tennessee Williams lived and where many of his plays premiered, is a fascinating twist of fate I could never have imagined,” says playwright Romina Paula. “The Whole of Time asks audiences to consider the choices we need to make, sometimes against those we love, so that we can become our true self.”

“Having grown up knowing The Glass Menagerie so well, I’m fascinated not only by the similarities between the two plays but what sets them apart,” says director Tony Torn. “In The Whole of Time, the sister is not a victim but someone who is isolated from the world because she prefers it that way. In today’s world, with so many people making similar choices to isolate themselves, Romina’s play is more current than ever. The balance of power within the family she has created is very, very different, which I find exhilarating.” 

The production’s original cast returns and includes Ben Becher, Ana B. Gabriel, Lucas Salvagno, and Josefina Scaro.

The creative team for The Whole of Time includes Andromache Chalfant and Rebecca Lord-Surratt (scenic design), Donald Gallagher (scenic backdrops), Jay Ryan (lighting design), Luke Santy (audio / video consultant), Zane Gan (costume consultant), Dan Safer (movement consultant), Berit Johnson (stage manager), jack Daniel Woods (technical director / production manager), John David West (marketing), Matt Street (promotional photography), Allison Parker (line producer), Nora Alexander (co-producer / company manager), Theresa Buchheister (production consultant), and Distracted Globe Foundation & Beach (associate producers).

Twenty-six performances of The Whole of Time will take place through September 20, 2025, at The Brick, located at 579 Metropolitan Ave in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. The performance schedule is Mondays & Tuesdays at 7pm and Wednesdays – Saturdays at 8pm. The running time is 70 minutes with no intermission. Tickets, which are priced at $25-$65, can be purchased at www.bricktheater.com.

The Whole of Time made its U.S. premiere at Torn Page (435 W 22 St. Manhattan) where it opened on January 7, 2024, and ran for forty-one performances between December 28, 2023 – March 3, 2024.

The Whole of Time is created in association with Joben Studios and Torn Page, with support from *Necessary Digression and The Martin E. Segal Center for Theatre Research.

Please visit www.bricktheater.com/the-whole-of-time for more information.

About the Artists

Romina Paula (playwright) is an Argentinean multidisciplinary artist: writer, actor, and director of theater and film. She studied playwriting at EMAD Drama School in Buenos Aires and trained as an actor with Alejandro Catalán, Ricardo Bartís, and Pompeyo Audivert. She is the author of three novels, Archivos de Word (Editorial Manslava), Agosto and Acá Todavia (Editorial Manslava); a volume of plays, Fauna, El tiempo todo entero, and Algo de ruido hace (Editorial Entropía); along with a collection of short stories (Editorial Manslava). The first collection of English translations of Paula's plays, Fauna and Other Plays, was recently published by Seagull Press as part of its In Performance series. Paula has staged her plays across Latin America and Europe, and she has appeared as an actor in numerous films and plays directed by notable Argentine directors. In 2019 she made her debut as filmmaker with De nuevo otra vez (Again Once Again), followed by Edición Ilimitada (Unlimited Edition) in 2020 produced by Varsovia Films.

Tony Torn (director) is an actor, director and producer who has worked extensively for the past thirty years in theater, film and television, in both traditional and experimental projects. He was recently an original cast member and co-divisor of Emursive’s Life & Trust and had a featured role in Courtney Stephens and Callie Hernandez’s experimental feature film Invention. He was the founding director of Bill Talen's Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping (now in its 25th year) and created and starred in the absurdist theater/punk rock mash-up Ubu Sings Ubu with co-director Dan Safer. His experimental web series The Grand Inquisitor was featured in the Adobe Media Player launch at the 2008 SXSW Festival. Recent directing credits include The Reenactors by Juliana Francis Kelley, Try Try! by Frank O'Hara at the Judith Wilson Theater Center at Cambridge University, UK. Tony currently teaches Acting at Playwrights Horizons Theater School for NYU, and manages Torn Page, a private event space in New York City named in honor of his parents, the award-winning actors Rip Torn and Geraldine Page.

Jean Graham-Jones (translator) is the Lucille Lortel Professor of Theatre at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. A trained actor and director, she is a scholar of Argentine theatre and performance and has translated over two dozen plays by contemporary Argentine playwrights. Recent books include Lola Arias: Re-Enacting Life and Evita, Inevitably: Performing Argentina's Female Icons Before and After Eva Perón. Her latest book project centers on contemporary performance translation.

Josefina Scaro (Antonia) is an Argentinian actress, dancer, and producer based in New York. Before moving to the U.S., she appeared in theater and film directed by established filmmakers from Argentina and Spain. Her work can be seen on the Argentinian streaming platforms CINEAR and TV Pública. Scaro made her North American film debut in American Thief (2021), which screened at major film festivals and is now available on Amazon Prime. She recently played lead roles in the feature films Farewell (dir. Teresa Constantini) and Legal (dir. Daniel Arango), both set to premiere in 2026. In collaboration with independent filmmaker Claire Torn, she developed the role of Sofia in Rent Control, a new series set to be released in fall 2025. Beyond her screen work, Scaro is active in New York’s independent theater scene. She collaborates regularly with the Segal Center at CUNY Graduate Center and Torn Page, a historic performance space in Chelsea, to foster cultural exchange between Latin America and New York City. She is currently working with Argentinian theater director Javier Daulte on his acclaimed play Are You There?, and developing a new play in New York with writer-director Romina Paula.

Lucas Salvagno (Lorenzo) is a Native New Yorker raised in the East Village. He studied acting with Terry Knickerbocker at the Esper Studio. TV/Film Credits: Blue Bloods, Criminal Minds, POWER, PLL: The Perfectionists, White Collar, Royal Pains, The Carries Diaries, Elementary and CRUISE (streaming free on Tubi.) Theater Credits: Dennis Ziegler in This Is Our Youth at The Wild Project.

Ana B. Gabriel (Ursula) is an actress and director based in NYC. She has worked in film, television, and the theatre mostly in Los Angeles. The Whole of Time marks her NYC debut. Other performances include Club Termina and Harry Thaw Hates Everybody which she acted in with Tony Torn (and who she is thrilled to be reunited with after 25 years.) Having been born in Argentina, Ana Gabriel is honored to be working on a play by Romina Paula.