New theater production invites audiences to reflect on vulnerability, connection

November 11, 2025 (Volume 49, Number 6)
Article by Sofia Ellis

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Performances of 'Circle Mirror Transformation' will be in the Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre.

The Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance is sponsoring its second production of the year, "Circle Mirror Transformation," written by Annie Baker. Performances are scheduled November 14-23 at the Haas Center for Performing Arts, Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre. 

The play is set in a small Vermont town. It follows five strangers who signed up for an adult acting class at the community center. These unique individuals participate in acting exercises and, through that process, they begin to open up and learn things about themselves and each other. 

“Annie Baker invites us to witness something rare: people willing to be vulnerable in public,” said Demetria Thomas, assistant professor of theater, who is directing the play. 

She shared how proud she is of the student actors who are taking on these roles. “They are so brave in what they bring to rehearsal every night. The show is simple, but not easy. I'm so excited to see how they take the lessons and new skills we learned in this process into their professional careers,” said Thomas. 

"Circle Mirror Transformation" asks audience members to reflect in the same manner the characters do throughout the play. The story is not only for entertainment, but an experience for the audience to take home with them, according to Thomas. 

“I'm most interested in how the audience will take the show into their own lives," Thomas said. "Does it change their view of their own vulnerability? Or their own so-called ‘weaknesses’? Community requires compromise, but connection requires commitment. Can one commit to being vulnerable?”

"Circle Mirror Transformation" tickets can be purchased online.

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