PULITZER PRIZE WINNING DRAMA "PRIMARY TRUST" AT WCP

What would your life be like without family or friends? Lonely and sad probably.If at the tender age of ten your mother, your only living relative dies of cancer, you never experience a true sense of belonging again and how tragic might that be.

Trust is a promise that some one or some thing will honor a commitment, will do what they say they will, a feeling of confidence that one can feel safe and secure. What happens if trust does not exist, from a family member, a friend, a neighbor, even a stranger? Our whole foundation on how to depend on another person rests on these fundamental relationships. What happens when they don’t exist?

All our social interactions are the basis for trust. We need to have faith in each other and ourselves in all relationships for life, home, work, in society. Westport Country Playhouse is offering a lesson in “Primary Trust,” a winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama by Eboni Booth, a sensitive study of survival and triumph of spirit, directed by Logan Vaughn until Saturday, May 2.

Come meet Kenneth, a late thirties-something African-American man, who has been hiding in the nooks and crannies of a used bookstore for decades. He is essentially hiding from life, stacking books by day and slurping mai tai drinks in a tiki bar named Wally’s by night. Without the companionship of his best friend Bert, he would be navigating life alone. Cranberry, New York is not a hot bed of social activity so when Kenneth is told by his boss Sam, an apologetic Greg Stuhr, he is sick and selling out, Alphonso Walker Jr's Kenneth in effect suffers a meltdown.

Having lost his mother when he was young, Kenneth must once again face a harsh reality. He must begin again. He must suddenly stand up for himself. He must find a new job. Most importantly, he must discover a new best friend because BBF Bert is imaginary. How Kenneth manages the nearly impossible tasks is a lesson in courage. His new boss Clay, also Greg Stuhr, miraculously takes him under his wing at Primary Trust Bank and, like the Lion, Tinman and Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz,” embues Kenneth with new courage. Jasmine Johnson’s legion of friendly waitresses at Wally’s gives him a sense of self-esteem and old imaginary pal Bert, Lance Coadie Williams, sticks around long enough to seal the do-over deal.

For tickets ($50 and up), call WCP, 25 Powers Court, Westport at 203-227-4177 or online at westportplayhouse.org. Performances are Tuesday-Thursday at 7:00 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3:00 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m.

Watch how Kenneth struggles to create a new world for himself when his existing one crumbles like a sand castle enveloped by the ocean tide. His story is heartbreaking, yet uplifting and ultimately one of courage and resilience.

"WATCHING MR. PEARSON" A WONDERFUL NEW FILM ABOUT DEMENTIA

Being diagnosed with dementia can indicate memory problems, thinking abilities, and difficult social interactions. Finding words and having problems with communications, getting lost while driving, trouble solving problems or organizing, poor coordination and confusion are common. People may exhibit depression, anxiety, and agitation, show changes in personality, have hallucinations, and show paranoia. Many people cope with a family member or friend who has dementia. Almost seven million people aged 65 or older suffer from this series of diseases and their experiences may seem drastically different. All are difficult to handle.

Thankfully two young men, Dillon Bentlage and Simon Kincade, became friends on the campus of Boston College and established as a writing team to make movies in such far away places as Holland and Australia, the latest being an informative and sensitive one entitled “Watching Mr Pearson.” Filmed in Guilford, Connecticut, it is a true family affair with Dillon serving as both co-founder and producer, his wife Dominika Zawada playing the role of the caregiver Caroline in a caring and creative way, how closely it relates to his personal grandmother and that his parents invite Dillon to shoot his movie in their beautiful home on the water.

Dillon utilized his own family experiences in Shelton to frame his film. focusing on a successful Hollywood actor Robert Pearson who suffers from a double loss, that of his career and the development of dementia. The bond between Robert and his caregivers, Caroline and Miguel, played by Luis Rizo, is touching and fragile, exhausting and difficult, at times horrible and at others unbelievable humorous. As director Dillon Bentlage movingly portrays how the progression of the disease affects Robert’s safety and sanity, equally difficult for the person struggling with the diagnosis and for the caregivers adjusting to the changing personalities of the patient.

For Caroline, she uses creatively restated scenes from Robert’s beloved old movies, with costumes and props, and dialogue, to try to reach him and pull him out of his emotional darkness and give him some of his old joy again. By contrast, Robert’s other caregiver Miguel does not share Caroline’s vision and wants to keep his treatment in a safer zone, more by the conventional books. Both must embrace patience if they can ever hope to succeed. They are the single resources most directly on the frontlines of this highly emotional battle.

This story and the devastating toll it takes on the patient and the family is all too familiar. The patient’s behavior can dramatically change, as a calm and loving person can demonstrate violence and anger. They can remember events and people from decades ago and forget what happened five minutes in the past, and ask again and again where they are and how they got there and how they will get home.

For actor Hugo Armstrong who plays Robert, the film is a learning lesson, a valuable lesson in its telling symptoms and how it affects the whole family irrevocably. Called “an actor’s favorite actor.” he has played every one from Uncle Vanya to a character on “Will Trent,” on “NCIS,” ‘Monk,” “Blacklist, detectives to lawyers, and also as writers and producers in the industry. Sam Burlington plays the young Robert, a Texas born actor and producer who fondly remembers growing up in front of a small tv watching movies. He too has been featured on such shows as “Will Trent” and “NCIS” and “Fallout.” Dominika Zawada’s Caroline is an international actress from Poland who captures the sensitivity of her role as caregiver in a sweet and charming manner. No person in her family has dementia but she was involved in the script at all the drafts. It opened her eyes to the different approach to care and now she is seeing the disease everywhere. For Luis Rizo, the male caregiver Miguel, he has known Dillon since being his roommate in college. They share a love of movies.

This project is clearly a labor of love. Dillon and co-writer Simon have already collaborated on films in the Netherlands and Australia. Dillon’s dad Autonius came to America from an old seafaring family in the Netherlands in 1993 and has been involved in pre- and post- editing. He even offered Dillon the use of his home in Guilford to film the movie, moving out with his wife for two months to make it easier. The set was so wonderful the house is like a character in the movie. When Dillon initially approached Hugo with the script, Hugo didn’t think he was right for the part. After reading the script and seeing its possibilities Hugo got to the last page and called Dillon to say it was “Wonderful.” Hugo found it “unexpectantly beautiful, achinging exquisite” and he couldn’t wait to go off to the races.

For Dillon Bentlage, this independent film set in one location, telling the story of one character and his personal struggle, shows his many lives and how he learns to know himself again. Watch for screenings across the country using links to watchingmrpearson and ktpictures.com. Let “Watching Mr. Pearson” open a door to dementia and how it affects the patient and the family and friends in profoundly personal ways.

"THE WEDDING SINGER" IS READY TO PARTY AT THE WARNER THEATRE IN TORRINGTON

Shakespeare once stated “If music be the food of love, play on.” But our love affair with music dates far beyond the Bard. Every society, past and present, has embraced music as a cultural constant, even back to isolated tribal groups and their primitive instruments. In 2008, a five-holed bone flute was discovered in a cave in Germany thought to be 35,000 years old. Think how colorless and silent our world would be without magical musical sounds.

The Warner Theatre in Torrington in general and the Nancy Marine Studio in particular are anything but colorless and silent as “The Wedding Singer” The Musical Comedy roars into town in party mode until Sunday April 26. For that popular and often confused Robbie Hart. love is a central theme of his life, after all he serenades brides and grooms at their marriages for a living. Is it wrong for him to desire that companionship and eternal romance for himself? Come watch the merry and energetic cast blow their bobby socks out of their sneakers with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, book by Beguelin and Tim Herlihy, based on the 1998 film of the same name.

One of the hardest and most important decisions you must make in life is who to marry. This is a lasting and profound life answer with grand consequences. It may take years or even decades before you truly know whether the decision was truly correct or definitely a mistake. What answer could be so decisive in its scope? Who is the perfect one to bond with in marriage?

Ron St. John’s Robbie Hart has just suffered heartbreak when his fiancee Linda leaves him for her old flame Sammy. Meanwhile Robbie meets a lovely singer Julia, Julia Nelson, at a wedding venue and interesting sparks begin to fly. Poor, confused Robbie lives in Ridgefield, New Jersey with Rosie (Elyse Jasensky) a lively senior who believes in her heart her grandson will achieve his dreams, be a success in life and find true love. She is his number one fan club president.

Along the way, he has a short fling with Holly (Zayda), tries to reconnect with Linda (Katie Locascio), watches Julia select Glen (Paul Donovan-Lietz) as better husband material, has to see Holly hook up again with Sammy (Mike Zimmerman), and decide to join the financial firm run by Glen and quit his bandmates and his dream of being a rock star.

Lively tunes like “It’s Your Wedding Day,” “Casuality of Love,” “Come Out of the Dumpster,” “Saturday Night in the City,” “All About the Green,” “Right in Front of Your Eyes,” “Single,” and “Grow Old With You” keep the action jumping. This big hearted musical is directed and choreographed by Travis Kendrick-Castanho.

For tickets ($32-37), call the Warner Theatre, 84 Main Street, Torrington at 860-489-7180 or online at warner theatre.org. Performances are Friday at 7:30 p.m, Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Get your dancing shoes on, wrap a wedding present, and buy hop over to the Nancy Marine Studio Theater for some jazzy fun as orange blossom bloom and love fills the air. Let’s get this party started!

WHAT IS "THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT" AT PLAYHOUSE ON PARK

How important is the truth? Must it be accurate? Does anybody really care? Will the world revolve around news that is almost factual? Is what you read in the newspapers and magazines, see on the tv news channels, or hear on the radio. an estimate of the truth or a wild guess of what might really be occurring? How would you even know?

Playhouse on Park in West Hartford is offering you a real and dramatic entry into the publication world of veracity with an intriguing foray into fiction vs. fact, the rabbit hole of “false news,” the option of exaggeration to make the writing more enticing, the difference between truth in journalism and creativity in an essay. Based on the true book by essayist John D’Agata snd fact checker Jim Fingal, come see the play by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell, “The Lifespan of a Fact” playing until Sunday May 3rd.

John D’Agata has penned a powerful piece about a young man, a teenager who commits suicide in Las Vegas by jumping off a tall building. Emily Penrose is the editor of a literary magazine wishing to publish John’s piece, but only if her newest hire Jim Fingal can fact check its accuracy. Suddenly with Jim’s attentiveness the fifteen page writing mushrooms to over one hundred pages.

Edward Montoya’s Jim wants to be perfect and accurate at his assignment. He questions everything: the boy’s name, his parents’ reaction to the deed, every comment John makes, the color of the bricks on the building, the seconds of the fall, every minute detail. Shannon Michael Wamser’s John is not amused by the excessive investigation, while Suzanne O’Donnell’s Emily is the referee in charge of the two men not resorting to fisticuffs and whether the “article” even gets pblished. The volcano is about to explode with hot lava in danger of burning the trio. Matt Pfeiffer directs this cauldron of controversy.

For tickets ($38.50-58.50), call Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford at 860-523-5900 ex. 10 or online at 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. Morning shows are at 10:30 a.m.and cost $25.

Come see the power struggle that wages between the three opinionated individuals and the controversial piece of writing that may help save a magazines’s future or destroy its integrity forever.

WORKING "9-5" WHAT A WAY TO EARN A LIVING AT MTC

Who would want to work for a mean and demeaning boss, one who dictates deadlines and uncompromising rules without consideration? Is the almighty paycheck and health insurance worth the daily punishment? What if you had the power to turn the tables (or desks) and get some satisfying revenge? Would you cringe away from the satisfaction or seize the opportunity? The moment for decision is now as Music Theatre of Connecticut in Norwalk launches the stellar musical “9-5” weekends until Sunday, May 3.

Come glory in the music and lyrics of the grand Dolly Parton paired with the delightful book by Patricia Resnick as three downtrodden female coworkers decide they have had enough guff and disrespect and they can’t take it any more. With a clever scheme and some heavy handed plotting, this trio of lady coworkers decide they have to take command of the copy machine and the coffee maker and take a stand for justice, women and the American way so watch out Franklin Hart the lines of battle have been drawn in the mimeograph machine.

Come watch as Gina Lamparella as Violet, Hannah Bonnett as Doralee and Elissa Demaria as Judy take on Joe Cassidy's Franklin Hart, with the help of Robin Lounsbury as Roz, Matt Mancuso as Joe, Christian Libonati as Dick, Scott Ahearn as Dwayne, Emma Kops as Maria, Alyssa McDonald as Kathy, Tyler Brian Miranda as Josh and Lucy Moon as Margaret and Missy. This cast is super enthusiastic and great on their feet. Tucked inside the plot for revenge, you might even discover a little romance.

The show is set in the late 1970’s, way before the #Me Too Movement got started. The stellar creative team is led by Director Amy Griffin and includes Choreographer Clint Hromsco, Music Director Zachary Anderson, Costume Designer Diane Vanderkroef. Lighting Designer Scott Borowka, and Scenic Designer Starlet Jacobs. Great fun songs keep the action jumping.

Tickets ($ 50-60 ), call the MTC, 509 Westport Avenue, Norwalk at 203-454-3883 or online at musictheatreofct.com. The production will run on Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm. and Sundays at 2 pm.

Whether your boss is the nicest person in the world or a close relative of a monster, you will have an In box of joy watching this musical comedy of office politics play out on the stage of the MTC. Your desk chair and Rolodex, your rope and gun are waiting. Watch friendship and revenge battle against a sexist, egotistical bigot and cheer on the winners!

COME LEARN ABOUT NEW FILM "LADY PARTS"

When Bonnie Gross was only 13, she experienced a sharp, burning, stabbing pain in her stomach that escaped diagnosis for years, across four states by twenty different doctors. She was told she was crazy, that it was all in her head, and that she was making it up. This condition was isolating and was brought about when she rode a bicycle, tryed to use tampons, and later had sex. The problem was in her female genitalia, a body part that has been given such strange names as fufu, vajayjay, pussy, kitty, muff, fandango, hoo ha, down there, lady garden, pocketbook and happy clam. You may know it better as vagina.

After ten years of searching, and being told to use more lube and to stop concentrating on her symptoms, Bonnie found a doctor, Dr. Andrew Goldstein, who diagnosed her condition in five minutes and told her she needed surgery: a vulvar vestibulectomy. She discovered 16% of women suffer from this condition, but little is taught about it, little research is being conducted, and very few people are even talking about it. It was even more disturbing to learn the $10,000 surgery was not covered by insurance because the procedure was considered cosmetic.

All of this was happening while Bonnie was being offered her dream job and the length of her recovery would take a year to complete. Luckily for her, her parents were very supportive, had her move home to Philadelphia and were wonderfully helpful through ever step of the operation. This life changing validation occurred in 2016. By some miraculous stroke of fate, Bonnie Gross possesses skills that made it perfect for her to tell her story to the world in the form of a film, a documentary, a dramedy, a comedy. Her story is now “Lady Parts,” filmed in New York and Los Angeles, giving her a diagnosis and a platform to make a difference, to show how she was to finally find answers, to use her mother’s similar medical issue to expand the conversation for other women, to raise public awareness and create a community conversation.

With director Nancy Boyd and producer Bonnie Gross, the pair have used their personal and painful experiences, honestly and brutally truthfully, what they each went through for medical treatment, when having a sense of humor, surrounded by family and friends was critical. Come meet Paige, a brave Valentina Tammaro, on the verge of her dream career in Los Angeles and moving home to her parents, recovery a year over. The film won festivals, same resources with majestic connections like Tight Lipped, Intimate Rose, Hellocina, The Pelvic People, Isswsh and Our Body Justice Project and she will prepare for another surgery this summer.

Now thirty-two Bonnie Gross has championed to challenge her cause to research, education and treatment, to give the vagina "a voice,” and an ideal writer, filmmaker and comedian to make a major difference.

SAY HELLO, JERRY TO "JERRY'S GIRLS" COURTESY OF CENTER STAGE IN SHELTON

Composer and lyricist Jerry Herman is known for being one of the most successful composers on Broadway starting in the 1960’s. His upbeat and optimistic hit musicals, characterized by Herman for their “simple hummable show tunes” like “Hello, Dolly!,” “Mame,” and “La Cage aux Folles” won him the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors. His 1964 hit “Hello, Dolly!” was at one time the longest-running musical in Broadway history. He is the only composer to have a trio of musicals that ran for more than 1500 consecutive performances. In 1983 he wrote the first musial about a gay couple, “La Cage aux Folles.” In 2009, he received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

To marvel in Jerry Herman’s parade of hits, skip on over to the Center Stage in Shelton for a musical visit with a trio of delightful singers as “Jerry Girls” until Sunday, April 19. Come hear Sandra Fernandes, Mackensie Massey and Emerson Raymond belt out thirty-six tunes that mark Herman’s genius and tribute as a composer and testify how and why Herman won so many Tonys, Grammies, Olivier, Dram Desk, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein, Frederick Loewe, Songwriters of Fame, Theater Hall of Fame and Kennedy Center Honors.

For example, “Hello, Dolly!” was based on Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker.” The title song by Jerry Herman became a hit for Louis Armstrong when he recorded it to publicize the play and it became his biggest hit when it climbed the charts as a “natural” in 1963. His fans made it the number one hit, so successful it pushed the Beatles off the top of the charts.Satchmo and his trumpet made it the biggest seller of his lifetime when it went gold.

Come hear some immortal tunes like "‘Put on Your Sunday Clothes,” “Before the Parade Passes By,” “It Only Takes a Moment” from “Hello, Dolly!” and “We Need A Little Christmas,” “If He Walked Into My Life,” “It’s Today” and “Bosom Buddies” from “Mame.” From “La Cage aux Folles.” delight in “I Am What I Am,” and “The Best of Times,” and from “Mack and Mabel “ such favorites as “Time Heals Everything,” and “Movies Were Movies.” Pianist and Music Director Jane Best performed on a revolving stage while Sandra Fernandes and Liz Muller created a colorful fashion show, Brandy Bailey and Michael “Beetle” Bailey kept the ladies on their dancing toes and Liz Muller served as a merry musical director and stage director. My personal regret was the lack of stories about the composer himself.

For tickets ($20-50), call Center Stage, 54 Grove Street, Shelton at 203-225-6079 or online at https://go-event.com/3570448-0. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Come enjoy the music of Gerald Sheldon Herman, better known as Jerry, famous for “upbeat and optimistic outlook and his simple, hummable show tunes.” And what hummable tunes they are.