Sam Kissajukian: 300 Paintings Tickets

What happened when Sydney-based comedian Sam Kissajukian quit standup, rented an abandoned cake factory, and created 300 paintings (hence the show's title) in the span of six months? Art and theatre come together as the Kissajukian answers that question in 300 Paintings, now playing an encore run at Vineyard Theatre after a hit U.S. premiere there in the fall.

With humor and heart, Kissajukian takes audiences through that roller coaster of a creative period, which was actually an extended manic bipolar episode, and its aftermath. His large-scale paintings, on display throughout the show and in the Vineyard Theatre lobby, document his rapidly shifting emotional state as he tested the bounds of creativity and mental health.

Like Kissajukian himself — a comedian, an artist, a writer, and a showman who both wrote and performs 300 Paintings — the play is a wholly unique combination of many things. "Unfolding like a work of origami," The New York Times's critic raved, the show becomes "a candid exploration of the Australian comedian’s bipolar disorder, wrapped in a whistle-stop art tour and enfolded in a stand-up comedy routine."

Echoed a review on New York Theatre Guide, "Through whip-smart humor, introspection, and reflection, 300 Paintings dives into the necessity, and limits, of creativity through the best and most perilous moments of life."