Description

Saturday, August 23, 2025
11:00 a.m.—5:00 p.m.
White-Ellery House, CAM Green
13 Poplar Street, Gloucester, MA 
Free and open to the public. 
Parking is first come first served.  

Visit the White-Ellery House to experience The Resurrection of Judy Rhines, a site-specific drawing installation by Gabrielle Barzaghi (drawings) and Peter Littlefield (dramaturgy). It is comprised of a series of cardboard dioramas and texts that recount a fictional story about Judy Rhines who, in 1796, suddenly disappears after being accused of witchcraft. Some say she died by throwing herself off a Rowan tree. But there have been rumors of sightings of her in the Dogtown Woods. 

A radio play, The Beginning of the End (of Judy Rhines) by Peter Littlefield, accompanies the installation. The play is a mystery set in the 1940s. Judy Rhines is a secretary, until one day, losing her job and just about everything else, she learns the ways of a witch. Cast includes Phoebe Potts, Sarah Hickler, Michael McNamara, and Evan Lurie. Recorded and edited by Michael LaMarche. Music by Evan Lurie. 

Kathleen Adams will perform her original song, “Judy’s Lament,” with words by Peter Littlefield, at 2pm on Saturdays, August 23 and 30. 

Artist Bios:
Gabrielle Barzaghi is a visual artist whose work explores the absurdity, tragedy, and beauty of the world. Her imagery is evocative of places just beyond the edge of normal experience and has an often otherworldly sensibility about the nature of time and being. Her work is in public and private collections, including the Cape Ann Museum. She graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and taught drawing at Suffolk University for over 30 years. Barzaghi is represented by Matthew Swift Gallery. Recently her work was shown in the exhibition Lines of Thought / Contemporary Women Artists Draw at Jane Deering Gallery. Curator Judith Tolnick Champa included Barzaghi’s work in the exhibition Reseeding the City / Ethnobotany in the Urban at the Rhode Island State House. Barzaghi’s recent solo show Fear Game was exhibited at the Matthew Swift Gallery.  She also made a gigantic drawn backdrop for Peter Littlefield’s staging of the play Dogtown Common. 

Peter Littlefield is a stage director, playwright, and dramaturg. He recently staged Percy MacKaye’s Dogtown Common at Windhover, co-produced by the Gloucester 400+. The backdrop was created by Gabrielle Barzaghi. He adapted and co-staged James M. Barrie’s Peter Pan for the Fisher Center at Bard with director Christopher Alden and stage designer Marsha Ginsberg. He co-directed Handel’s Partenope with Mr. Alden at the English National Opera, winning the Laurence Olivier Award. His work has appeared at the New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Spoleto Festival, San Francisco Opera, Theater Basil, Prague National Theater, and other companies in the United States and Europe. He began his career in New York’s downtown. He helped start The Pyramid Club where he staged many original shows. His trilogy of short films, What She Learned from Plants, made with Roy Rallo, screened at the Gloucester Writers Center. He leads a playwrighting workshop there each summer. He studied with Maria Irene Fornes. 

Image Credit: Excerpt from The Resurrection of Judy Rhines, 2025. Gabrielle Barzaghi, ink on cardboard. Image courtesy of the artist.