WEST HARTFORD'S PLAYHOUSE ON PARK HITS A HOME RUN WITH "TONI STONE"

West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park wants to take you out to the baseball field, with peanuts and Cracker Jacks optional. Until Sunday, June 16, you are invited to meet the scrappy, determined and dedicated “Toni Stone,” who is the prize tucked into the Cracker Jack box. According to Negro League Baseball Players Association, Toni Stone was “one of the best players you have never heard of.” Thanks to playwright Lydia R. Diamond’s intimate portrayal, your knowledge and respect for Toni Stone will be revelatory. As a young girl who loved baseball, as well as a bevy of other sports, she refused to let her gender and her race be excuses for not succeeding at an all men’s recreational career.

Constance Sadie Thompson is wonderful as Toni, sturdy, focused, not-to-be- ignored and dismissed. The play focuses on her time as the only woman, a true trailblazer, on the Indianapolis Clowns. “Her boys” as she called them, her teammates, did not support her and made her career much more difficult with their lack of respect and continual taunting.

With courage and fortitude, Toni fought for her rights and her position at second base, relying on the companionship and eventual marriage to James Edward Becton, III’s Alberga and the encouragement of her only true female friend, a prostitute, Brandon Alvion’s Millie. Her team mates Stretch (Adeyinko Adebola), King Tut (Tony N. King), Elzie (Jamar Jones), Spec (Celester Rich), Jimmy (Bernard Scudder) and Woody (Nathaniel J. Ryan) all conspired to make her fight all the harder. As she struggled around the bases, Toni perservered to achieve home run status despite them. With a baseball gloved hand, Toni Stone stretched her arm to victory. Jamil A. C. Mangan directs this inspired true tale, on Johann Fitzpatrick’s diamond set, with uniforms designed by Vilinda McGregor and exhilarating and exhausting choreography by Maurice Clark.

For tickets ($42.50-$55.), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900, ext. 10 or online at http://www.playhouseonpark.org. Performances are Tuesday at 2 p.m., Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. followed by a talk back.

Whether baseball is your life or you have rarely sat in the bleachers, you will root for Toni Stone and her accomplishments with admiration and pride.

HOW LOVE FOR TWO AND FOUR LEGGED PEOPLE AND PETS OCCURS AT WESTPORT COMMUNITY THEATRE

Loneliness and a scarcity of friends can often lead to depression and unhappiness. Too many people in this world could use a healthy dose of companionship and neighborliness to cure what ails them. Many in this position turn to the unconditional love that a sweet little kitten or puppy can offer.

Welcome the comforting arms provided in the solution offered by Westport Community Theatre with a Square one Theatre Company production of “Chapatti” by Christian O’Reilly, a bittersweet, touching and tender play of people and pets and how they can save each other.

Can a man who loves dogs and hates furry felines find happiness with a woman who has a harem of cats and kittens, especially when they both suffer from the agonizing affliction of loneliness? A fine pair of actors, Al Kulcsar and Lucy Babbitt, are more than up to the task until Sunday, June 23 and you are invited to make their acquaintance in this endearing and charming Irish tale.

Ireland and India crash, literally and figuratively, when Al Kulcsar's Dan bumps into Lucy Babbitt's Betty at the office of their veterinarian. His faithful dog Chapatti, named for a flat bread baked in India, encounters Betty's box of newborn kittens and none of the pets or the people are ever the same again. Through a set of complicated circumstances, these two strangers find their lives woven together in a bizarre set of ways, like a crazy quilt or a mismatched tapestry. As this vulnerable pair interact, we become acquainted with them and begin to care deeply for their fates.

The tragic loss of a cat becomes the starting point for their friendship and suddenly their solitary lives gain meaning and laughter and, shall I hint, the possibility of love. All is not smooth on the horizon as Dan has a doghouse of secrets that become slowly apparent and Betty has her hands full using a bit of reverse psychology to help him through his mental missteps. Set in Dublin, Ireland in the present, "Chapatti" is a fresh breathe of romantic air that as Shakespeare would say "doesn't always run smooth.” But the Bard would also say, “All’s well that ends well” and he’d be right.

Both Kulcsar and Babbitt are wonderful in their roles, he tentatively shy and unassuming with desires that are unrealistic while she is shining optimism and filled with the infectious laughter of hope and promise. Slowly but surely, she encourages him to open the windows of his life to possibilities, to let love fly in and take root. Tom Holehan directs this poignant tale of compassion and friendship, of reaching out for company and companionship, to welcome second chances, that is sure to make your heart smile. Bring a Kleenex or three just in case.

For tickets ($30), call Westport Community Theatre, 110 Myrtle Avenue, Westport at the Westport Town Hall at 203-226-1983 or go online to www.westportcommunitytheatre.com. Performances will be held Thursday,June 13 at 8 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m.

While the course of true love never did run smooth, this one is wild with laughter, barks and meows and lots of crossed fingers and hopeful horizons.

TAKE A WILD AND WONDERFUL "2.5 MINUTE RIDE" AT HARTFORD STAGE

What are the little moments and gigantic moments that measure a life? I've often read that your two most important dates are the day you are born and the day you realize why. I’ve also been told it’s the dash that defines you and your life between the date of your birth until the day of your death - and everything you did in between, your personal dash. For playwright Lisa Kron, she has s personal, poignant, painful and perceptive play to tell what captures the intense moments that shaped her own father’s life and the Hartford Stage is revealing them with powerful painted images in “2.5 Minute Ride” until Sunday, June 23. Don’t miss it!

Lisa Kron focuses on three major events that shaped her father’s life beginning in 1937 when at 15, his parents put him on the Kindertransport train out of Germany to save his life and so many other Jewish children’s lives before and during World War II. He never saw his parents again. Using a video and slide show of colored images, Lena Kaminsky’s Lisa opens her world to the audience with candor and honesty, simplicity and sensitivity. She is truly magical as she takes us on the family’s annual trips to Cedar Point Amusement Park, in Sandusky, Ohio, known as the roller coaster capitol of the world for its 68 amazing roller coasters and her father’s love of riding them. Like the amusement ride, the story goes up, up and away with loops and twists, curves and surprises. There are unexpected revelations from moment to moment, filled with sparks of wonderful humor and flashes of tragedy along the way.

With amazing skill, she hopscotches to a trip she took to bring her dad back to his homeland of Germany and a painful visit to Auschwitz, the death camp where his family perished so many years before. This is a real story of a real family, of the loves and losses in a parent and child relationship, one that speeds along like that amusement park ride, told by a queer Jewish woman and her personal journey to preserve and understand his history and his world and how the two interconnect.

The healing power of storytelling continues with her brother David's enchanting Orthodox wedding to a woman, Soshie, he met online and how her mother suddenly bought a new dress and put on makeup for the first time to attend. With her partner Peggy and her videographer friend Mary, Lisa takes us on a voyage of discovery that is memorable, under the inspired direction of Zoe Golub-Sass, on a set designed by Judy Gailen that resembles Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall.

For tickets ($20-100), call the Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at hartfordstage.org. Performances are Tuesday to Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Watch the past and present merge right before your eyes as Lisa Kron, with the wonderful assistance of Lena Kaminsky, take you on a personal journey of discovery that clearly explains the dash in her father’s life.

A PEEK BEHIND THE FIG LEAVES AT LEGACY THEATRE IN BRANFORD

God clearly has a sense of humor as he (or she)”experiments” with the human species in addition to all the animal creations. Someone has to name these mostly four legged creations after all. One day Adam is happily alone in the Garden of Eden, beautifully designed by Jamie Burnett, a peaceful place where a small stream, a bevy of flowers, birdsong, a cricket or frog, a sweet breeze, a path of stones and, hopefully, a bench for resting and reflection exists. When Rod Brogan’s Adam encounters Mariah Sage’s Eve, he is perplexed and annoyed that she talks so much. Their understudies are Jonathan Onyango and Christine Voytko.

Each is armed with a notebook to record all their amazing and perplexing thoughts. Why are they here? What is their purpose and mission? Can they actually get along and work together? Must she always have the final say on the animal’s name? What is the role of the apple, the forbidden fruit, and how does the snake fit into their story and fate?

This is a time of discovery, where questions are asked and sometimes answered. Will Adam always find Eve “in the way” or “bad company” or, eventually, will he find her useful and interesting? Will the fall and death change their feelings for each other irrevocably? Will they be able to sustain a life together outside the garden?

Mark Twain wrote his diary of Adam first and ten years later, penned a second diary about Eve. Thanks to Legacy Theatre’s clever adaptation of “The Diaries of Adam and Eve,” with the help of David Birney, you will be able to unlock some of the perplexing answers until Sunday, June 16. With sweetness and wonder, you are invited into the Garden of Eden to watch God’s experiment unfold with all its complications and curiosity.

Was Eve truly made from Adam’s rib? He does’t believe so. Will the moon return after it’s been lassoed from the sky? Does Eve have an answer for everything? Keely Baisden Knudsen valiantly tries to resolve all the probing inquiries.

For tickets ($25-50), call Legacy Theatre, 128 Thimble Island Road, Branford at 203-315-1901 or online at LegacyTheatreCT.org. Performances are Thursday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.on most dates.

Come discover the passion of first love and the painful reality of first losses as our guides Mark Twain and David Birney offer a look behind the fig leaves.

TAKE A JOURNEY OF RECONCILIATION WITH ADIL MANSOOR IN "AMM(I)GONE"

Did you ever have a regret for something left unsaid with a friend or loved one, until it is too late to utter those words of understanding or reconciliation? Regrets are painful to forgive. Words unspoken can never be uttered after death occurs, unless it is at the graveside and one sided in their message. For Pakistani playwright and performer Adil Mansoor, this is a life lesson he has vowed to resolve by inviting the audience to go on a journey with him, as he tries to make peace with his own mother. In his journey he hopes to inspire you to speak up and open the doors of communication before death closes them for us.

Thanks to New Haven’s Long Wharf Theatre, you have the unique opportunity to join Adil in "Amm(i)gone" on his trek of self discovery, to convey a heartfelt apology to his mother, a conversation about returning to Islam and securing a place in the afterlife. For Adil, this is an important conversation and he is using the art of the theater to make it happen. Fifty years ago his mother was in a play and she still remembers her lines today, a half century later. Adil is using this tool to bring “me and my mom back together,” a project in translation, with laughter and vulnerability.

Even though you may not be Pakistani or ever have met a Pakistani person before, there is an intimate and universal message in Adil’s one man show. Once upon a time, his mom was his best friend. Now living in Pittsburgh, since coming to the United States at the tender age of three months, he feels he no longer has the relationship with her he once enjoyed, where she taught him how to speak and how to sing. Her brimming with joy for him has disappeared and he wants it back. He is afraid to tell her he has a long standing personal relationship with Luke, for fear of what she’ll say. He wants her to use her faith to “save her son in the afterlife."

Using the text of the ancient play “Antigone” by Sophocles, Adil hopes to open a channel of understanding with mom and heal what has gone wrong between them. We all recognize the need for resolution between generations, no matter what nationality we identify with in our world. In his personal storytelling, his pictures and projections and mystery words and music, Adil paints a portrait of his family that we all can see as our own. He is urging us to seek forgiveness while the time still exists and be all the better for it. His message is “theater can bring family together.”

For tickets ($49, students $10, grades K-12 free ), call Long Wharf Theatre at 203-693-1486 or online at boxoffice@longwharf.org. Performances are until Sunday, June 23 at Yale’s Black Box Theatre, 53 Wall Street, New Haven around the corner and up the ramp on Wednesday at 6 p.m, Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Embark on the journey of the healing of the heart as part of its first stop in New Haven on a national tour, with Adil Mansoor as our intimate guide, with gratitude to Wooly Mammoth Theatre and Yale University and in partnership with TheaterWorks Hartford, with co-direction by Lyam B. Gabel and set and lighting designed by Xotchil Musser. Adil urges you before the show to pray for someone you love or have lost, during the show to engage in laughter or in remembering and after the show to call your mom or squeeze your sweetie.

ENTER THE WORLD OF "A COMPLICATED WOMAN" AT THE TERRIS THEATRE

There are rarely easy answers to life’s complicated questions. Weighing and balancing options can be challenging and the answers may be a long time in the future in evaluating whether you chose correctly. Events can influence what path you take and have the power to change your life irrevocably. “A Complicated Woman A New Musical” by Ianne Fields Stewart for book, Jonathan Brielle for music and lyrics, with additional lyrics by Sam Salmond, is guaranteed to take you on a life altering journey of self discovery at the Terris Theatre in Chester until Sunday June 2. Set with probing music, it asks what happens when you live a double life, with gender issues that are not easily accepted or resolved by family, friends and, especially, yourself.

Nora Brigid Monahan is exceptional in tackling the balancing the see-saw act that is John Kenley, impresario and show business entrepreneur during the winter in New York and summers in Florida as Jean, a woman who lives a much riskier life with her best friend Nina Mae, a devoted L Morgan Lee. Is it possible to reconcile the two vastly different personas? Can John/Jean be both or will the two worlds crash or collide in the future? How brave do you have to be to be happy?

For Nina Mae, the decision seems clearer. She will accept the love that Oscar, an understanding Christian Brailsford, offers so freely and have the operation that will allow a marriage and family to exist. When John’s boyfriend and lover Carl, an uncompromising Dashiell Gregory, refuses to accept nothing less than a wife and children, John must make a heartbreaking decision. Can he live as John or as Jean can give up his other self? It is like separating conjoined twins who may not survive the operation. The devastating truth that his sister Myrtle, a no nonsense Klea Blackhurst, refuses to accept John’s other self makes any decision he makes much more difficult.

John finds it even more difficult to maintain his relationship with Nina Mae and her daughters, Muhlaysis's Zachary A. Myers and Arewa Basit’s Diamond, as they watch Aunt Jean struggle to choose a path. Danny Rutigliano’s successful role as Lee Shubert does not make the decision any easier. You will soon find yourself agonizing with the poignant battle waging as tunes like “Risk & Reward,” “The Man Who Runs the Show,” “in the Light of Day,” "Why Can’t We Be Both?” and “I Exist!” emotionally affect your heart.

Follow this journey of discovery for a person who is forced to hide in plain sight, struggling to reconcile two lives without losing himself/herself in the process.

DOWNTOWN CABARET OF BRIDGEPORT WILL DEFINITELY ROCK YOU

Fast forward three hundred years into the future where a large corporation, the Globalsoft Company, when Planet Earth is now known as Planet Mall and is in control of everyone and everything. Music as we knew it no longer exists. Imagine a planet without rock ’n’ roll. Horrors! Stars from the past like the King, Buddy Holly, Brittany Spears and Katie Perry are just a whisper in your imagination. But, somewhere, remnants of the memories of music still exist and those rebels called bohemians are determined to fight the establishment and resurrect the past and restore the glory of rock ’n’ roll again. Interested?

Calling upon the royal music of a blast from the past the Downtown Cabaret of Bridgeport is blowing out its walls to present “We Will Rock You! The Queen Musical” weekends until Sunday, June 30. Venture into an apocalyptic world of the future and meet two revolutionaries as they try to save their unique genre of music. Think Spaceballs and This Is Spinal Tap meet Matrix in this super cool sci-fi production where personal rebellion reigns.

Using almost two dozen Queen hits, the stage is set for anarchy and chaos as Chris Balestriere's Galileo and Corrine Marshall’s Scaramouche bravely mount a campaign to restore rock ’n’ roll and wrest it out of the greedy hands of Ashley McLeod’s Killer Queen and JoJo DeVellis’s Khashoggi's devious hands. With an army to protect them, Killer Queen and Khashoggi are determined to win the music war and squash any one who threatens their leadership command. When Galileo and Scaramouche join with a rag-tag band if bohemians, war is officially declared. Try to wrap your heads around this futurist comedy where only one set of foes will be declared the victors.

With a book by Ben Elton and a score of Queen hits like” We Are the Champions,” “Radio Ga Ga,” “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Under Pressure,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Killer Queen,” “I Want to Break Free,” “Somebody to Love,” and, of course, “We Will Rock You” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” the sky’s the limit to enjoyment and boundless energy. With tireless talent from Thomas Sullivan as Buddy Holly, Anthony Laszlo as Brit, May Tae Harge as Oz and Caroline DiGiulio as the swing for both Scaramouche and Oz, this cast and ensemble threaten to disengage the roof from the cabaret.

For tickets( $41.80 ), call the Downtown Cabaret, 263 Golden Hill Street, Bridgeport at 203-576-1636 or online at dtcab.com. Performances are Friday at 7:30 p.m, Saturday at 3 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Remember this is cabaret so bring your goodies and drinks to enjoy.

Get ready for some out of this world entertainment where music, unless it is computer generated, is illegal. Just the wild costuming by Lesley Neilson-Bowman, the funky choreography by Olivia Rivera, the wonderful music directed by Mark Ceppetelli, the super set design by Sasha Mishaman and Christian Hall, and the projections and direction by Andrea Pane, are worth the price of admission all by themselves. No fear, you will definitely be rocked!