fragments 

by Jim petosa

Directed by judy braha

Playing June 18th - july 5th, 2026
saint james place

ABOUT THE PLAY

This memory play is written as a series of episodes.  I call them fragments.  They were selected by considering those lived moments that are etched in my memory in great detail because of their intensity.  The story begins in 1985 and ends in 1990.  There are ten fragments and an epilogue.  For many years, these fragments were told as oral histories to friends who had the patience and the interest to hear them.  Over time, each fragment evolved to have a shape, an appreciation for certain details, certain words that were said.  Everything in this memoir is true to my memory of each moment.  Every word that is said in the course of this memoir is verbatim or as close to it as my memory allows. 

The reason for this play to exist at all is the passage of time that continues to have our collective memory of the era slowly fade.  We cannot allow these journeys to disappear because we failed to chronicle them and share the various ways in which we lived through them.   This memoir does not stand alone in the body of literary and dramatic texts that continue to rise from the ashes of those days.  My hope is that it will contribute to our understanding of that time because of its particular focus on the shared life of two people and the subsequent surviving partner who felt compelled to tell the story of their unusual journey.

Reviews

  • To Come This Summer!

Cast and creative team

  • Jim Petosa

    James Petosa (Playwright/Performer) - James is a Professor Emeritus with Boston University's College of Fine Arts. He served as director of the BU School of Theatre from 2002 - 2019 and continued on as a full professor though 2023. He enjoyed a close collaboration with the Boston University Opera Institute, for which he taught and directed for 20 years. He also served as artistic director of the New Repertory Theatre from 2012 - 2019, the Boston Center for American Performance (BCAP) from 2009 - 2019, and as a co-artistic director for the Potomac Theatre Project and PTP/NYC from 1987 til the present. He also served as Artistic Director for the Washington D.C. area’s Olney Theatre Center.

    A member of Actor’s Equity Association and the Society of Directors and Choreographers, James is a past President of Stage Source, the New England association of theatre organizations and practitioners and is a current Board member (and past president) of the Berkshire’s Becket Arts Center. He resides in Becket, and Quincy, MA.

  • Judy Braha

    Judy Braha (Director) is Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater in the beautiful Berkshires, dedicated to the development and production of new works for the theater.   She has been a director, teacher and arts advocate for over four decades.   Long-time Head of the M.F.A. Directing Program at Boston University College of Fine Arts, her credits include theaters, prisons and universities throughout New England. With Andre de Quadros, Judy proudly taught for the BU Prison Arts Initiative and Race Prison Justice Arts.   Recent Directing: Madame Mozart, the Lacrimosa, Things I Know To Be True, Mr.Fullerton, Dog People (GBPT), Representation and How To Get It  (touring to a historic venue near you), The Exonerated, Our Class, Shakespeare In Love  (BU/SOT), Mr. Fullerton, Between the Sheets, To Kill A Mockingbird (Gloucester Stage), Golda’s Balcony (New Rep), Flight of the Monarch (Shakespeare+Co.).        https://judybraha.squarespace.com/