“No Exit,” November 13 through 22

Friday, November 13, through Sunday, November 22

Playcrafters Barn Theatre, 4950 35th Avenue, Moline IL

A masterpiece of brooding intensity and dark laughs that introduced the world to the adage "Hell is other people," Nobel Prize winner Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit closes the 2026 season at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, its November 13 through 22 run treating audiences to a work the Oxford Culture Review deemed "complex and dark ... convincing and enticing."

In Sartre's stage classic, Cradeau, Inez, and Estelle are locked up together for eternity in one hideous room in Hell. There are no mirrors, the electric lights can never be turned off, and there is literally no exit. The irony of this Hell, however, is that its torture is not of the rack and fire, but of the burning humiliation of each soul as it is stripped of its pretenses by the cruel curiosity of the damned. Here, the soul is shorn of secrecy, and even the blackest deeds are mercilessly exposed to the fierce light of a punishing afterlife as the trio's interactions reveal truths about guilt, self-deception, and human nature.

Over the years, Sartre's existential thriller has enjoyed numerous adaptations for the stage, radio, film, television, and, in 2008, opera, with Mike Schur, creator of NBC's popular The Good Place, notably comparing his sitcom to No Exit. Sartre's play was also widely praised when it was first performed. Upon its 1946 American premiere at the Biltmore Theatre, The New Republic critic Stark Young described the work as "a phenomenon of the modern theatre," and wrote that "it should be seen whether you like it or not."

Serving as No Exit's director and costume designer is Kate Farence, who portrayed A Streetcar Named Desire's Blanche DuBois at the Barn Theatre in 2024, and whose previous area directing credits include Prenzie Players productions of Antony & Cleopatra, King John, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Justin Raver acts as the drama's stage manager and props co-designer, with additional members of the creative team including: set designer and props co-designer Elle Winchester; set builder Chris Sambdman; sound designer Drew Bissell; and poster designer Jacque Cohoon. Featured in Farence's four-person cast, meanwhile, are Joe Sager (Genesius Guild's The Taming of the Shrew) as Cradeau, Alaina Pascarella (Genesius Guild's Love's Labour's Lost) as Inez, Leslie Day (the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Steel Magnolias) as Estelle, and Reader employee Mike Schulz (Playcrafters' God of Carnage) as a Hell-ish bellboy.

No Exit will be performed at Moline's Barn Theatre November 13 through 22, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Admission is $16-18, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)762-0330 and visiting Playcrafters.com.