Photos: GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY At Wilbury Theatre Group

Wilbury Theatre Group is presenting the Rhode Island premiere of the Tony Award-winning Girl from the North Country by Tony Award-nominated playwright Conor McPherson with music and lyrics by Bob Dylan, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. See photos of the production.

The production is directed by Josh Short with musical direction by Milly Massey and choreography by Ali Kenner Brodsky.  The cast features Anne Scurria, Jim O’Brien, Kimstelle Merisma, Carlin Fournier, Jessica Gates, Matt Fraza, Tanya Martin, Ricky Waugh, Jon Mael, Rodney Witherspoon, Philip Iredale, Scott Levine, Carrie Tully, Hannah Devine, David Rabinow, Dave Carney, and Riley Ratcliffe with scenic design by Monica Shinn, sound and lighting design by Andy Russ, costume design by Niki Healy, and stage management by Allison Marchetti. 

The production runs now through June 21, 2026. Tickets, available through the Wilbury Group’s Access for All pay-what-you-can ticketing program ranging from $10 - $55, are now on sale at thewilburygroup.org.

It’s 1934 in Duluth, Minnesota. We meet a group of wayward travelers whose lives intersect in a guesthouse filled with music, life, and hope. Written by celebrated playwright Conor McPherson and featuring Tony Award-winning orchestrations by Simon Hale, Girl From the North Country  reimagines 20 legendary songs of Bob Dylan as they’ve never been heard before, including Forever Young, All Along The Watchtower, Hurricane, Slow Train Coming, and Like A Rolling Stone.

“Like so many others, I've spent my whole life with Bob Dylan's music and I still find myself surprised by the depths of these songs," said Artistic Director Josh Short. "What Conor McPherson has done with them is breathtaking, he's mined the grief and the grace already living inside the music and built an entire world around it. This is a story about people on the edge of losing everything, and it reminds us that even in our darkest moments, there is still music, and there is still hope."

Girl from the North Country premiered at the Old Vic in London in 2017 and debuted on Broadway in 2020. It was nominated for seven Tony Awards. The New York Times calls the production: ​“Profoundly beautiful...​​This ravishing and singular musical hears America singing.” The Telegraph adds; "Not very often, a piece of theatre comes along that radiates an ineffable magic…the rare alchemy with which McPherson fuses a dustbowl drama set in Depression-era Minnesota with the keening mysticism of Dylan's back catalogue makes it almost glow."

Photo Credit: Erin X. Smithers

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