Photos: BUGHOUSE in Rehearsal at the Vineyard Theatre

All new rehearsal photos have been released from the world premiere of Bughouse, conceived and directed by Martha Clarke. Bughouse features a script by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley, adapted from the writings of Henry Darger, and will star Obie Award-winning performance artist John Kelly as Darger. Bughouse is produced in association with Jayne Baron Sherman. Check out the photos below!

Performances will begin on February 18, 2026 with an opening night of March 11, 2026 and will play for six weeks.

Visionary director Martha Clarke brings us inside the mind of one of the 20th century’s most startling outsider artists, Henry Darger — a reclusive janitor whose extraordinary body of paintings and writings was only fully discovered after his death. In his cramped Chicago apartment, Darger created a vast, fantastical universe, filled with child warriors, epic battles, and haunting beauty – an alternate reality through which he could escape his own. With text adapted from Darger’s own writings by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart), featuring an unforgettable visual and aural landscape, and starring Obie Award-winning performance artist John Kelly, Bughouse offers an intimate examination of a self-taught artist’s compulsion to create — even when no one is watching.

The creative team for Bughouse is Neil Patel (Production Design), Donna Zakowska (Costume Design), Christopher Akerlind (Lighting Design), Arthur Solari (Sound Design), John Narun (Projection Design), Faye Armon-Troncoso (Set Decoration & Props), Fred Murphy (Cinematography), Ruth Lingford (Animation), Michael Bonesteel (Art Historian Consultant), and Olivia Fletcher (Production Stage Manager).

Vineyard’s final show of the season will be ||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :||, a co-production with American Conservatory Theatre, written by Eisa Davis and directed by Pam MacKinnon will play in the Spring of 2026.

Photo Credit: Tricia Baron

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