Fans, family stage ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ at OTA

Published 1:30 am Monday, March 9, 2026

SEQUIM — As “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” centers on two complicated couples, first-time actress Courtney Thomas is going into each performance at Olympic Theatre Arts arm-in-arm with her biggest supporter, her husband Colby.

“I’m thankful for that,” she said. “It’s for a second there, but when I have to step out, I’m literally holding onto (Colby) and I had thought that I do really like that.”

For years, he’s encouraged her to act, and she agreed to try out if “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” was staged.

The production will run at 414 N. Sequim Ave. in Sequim through March 15 with shows at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. For tickets, visit olympictheatrearts.org or call the box office from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at 360-683-7326.

Colby, a seasoned OTA actor, said the play is a favorite of his. When he saw it was announced for the 2026 season, he said, “I’m absolutely gonna try out for it.”

It’s the first time the Thomases have appeared on stage together since the end of OTA’s run of “Red” in 2012, when Colby surprised Courtney, the show’s stage manager, and proposed to her.

In “Who’s Afraid … ” they play newlyweds Nick and Honey in Edward Albee’s acclaimed play. They visit longtime couple George and Martha (Vince Campbell and Joodie Klinke) for a drink followed by unexpected psychological games and a secret revealed through bitterness, despair and seduction.

Director Kyle LeMaire said he’s wanted to lead the show for a long time as it shifted how plays were written.

One original review, he said, called it demonic because “it was something they had never seen, a woman cuss on stage before.”

LeMaire said while it’s often called a drama, he finds it to be a dark comedy.

“You’re supposed to laugh at things,” he said. “Yes, there are serious moments, and yes, it’s serious topics. We’re watching a 45-year marriage fall apart, but there are moments in the show that are truly, truly funny and real.”

Actors for this show all had their eyes on playing a part long before auditions, including Campbell and Klinke.

Campbell, who plays seasoned professor George, said it was a challenge he wanted to take on. The more he got into reading, the more complicated it became to determine who is lying at what time.

Asked if he had it figured out, he said he’s got an idea.

“The beauty of it is, anybody could have a different interpretation,” Campbell said.

Klinke, who joked she and Campbell are in their second marriage together after appearing in OTA’s “Fools” as a couple, said she was drawn to this play’s dramatic elements.

“I love comedies. I love musicals. I love little parts, big parts, but something as meaty as this doesn’t come along very often,” she said.

Running “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is a risk for OTA, Klinke said, because of its subject matter and its three-hour length, but it’s a “theater person’s play, so people who enjoy theater understand it.

“It’s just stood the test of time because it’s about relationships and marriages and dysfunction, and so I think people will see themselves in it for better or worse,” Klinke said.

“If you want to feel better about your own life and relationships, come see this show.”

Something special

While watching the actors explore the complexities of their lives and lies, LeMaire said the actors “make you feel like you’re part of that conversation.”

“They’re really something special,” he said.

Campbell said LeMaire brought a vision to the show they embraced.

“I have a lot of respect for him as a director, and I hope I work with him again because he had a vision and a picture in his mind of what he wanted to do, and he was able to get it out of everybody the way he needed it,” he said. “And at the same time, he still was open to suggestions and collaboration with the actors.”

During practices, they’d run a portion of the script, and then have an in-depth conversation about it, Campbell said.

“The more you look at it, the more that’s going on. It’s crazy,” he said.

Courtney said she’s found couples have done this show in the past, but some also avoid it “because it can bring so much up in their own relationship.”

“Our relationship on stage is really interesting. It is so different than ours,” she said. “I get to be mad at him, which, honestly, I don’t get that mad at Colby.”

Colby said acting with his wife has felt comfortable and at times unreal.

“There are those moments of lucidity on stage where it’s like, ‘oh, yeah, you’re my wife’ … it’s so different than the Courtney that I live with,” he said.

“I’m acting,” Courtney said proudly.

For Honey, Courtney said she’s done a lot of research into the show, and she hopes the audience “gets as much as I can give them because it’s a fascinating show, really. And I get to have some real freak-out moments.”

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.