CURIOUS PLAY INTRIGUES AND EXCITES VIEWERS AT UCONN

Tyler Nowakowski is quite remarkable. As a third year BFA

 Acting candidate at the University of Connecticut, he has taken on the challenging and difficult task of inhabiting the mind and body of a teenager grabbling with autism.

"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" may be the most wildly different, imaginative, remarkable and disturbingly emotional play you will ever experience.  You don't just see the play, you feel it.  You are a witness and a participant in the engaging action that swirls around a 15 year old boy, Christopher John Francis Boone. The Jorgensen Theatre on the UCONN campus has been transformed until Sunday, March 8 into a mathematical cube of lights and directions to accommodate Christopher's unusual world.The projections created by Taylor Edelle Stuart add to the realism of his often complicated existence.

 Christopher is capable of amazing mind shattering revelations. You, the audience, are invited to enter into his vastly different views of reality and lets you hang on to his coattails for a bumpy and unbelievable ride.  Based on a book by Mark Haddon, it has crossed the pond from London in the form of a new play adapted in 2014 by Simon Stephens.

How disturbing is it to discover a neighbor's dog has died...not just died, but been murdered?  What if you are then suspected of committing that heinous act?  Christopher Boone determines that he must clear his own name and learn who the real culprit is.  Enter Sherlock Holme
That decision takes him on a disturbing and frightening journey.  In his autistic world, many things are too difficult for him to comprehend.  He hates anything yellow or brown and loves mathematics, especially prime numbers. Anything new is scary, being touched is an anathema, loud noises are disorienting.  With a resilence that is almost beyond his ken, Christopher sets off on an odyssey worthy of Ulysses, a young detective determined to uncover the truth. 

With resources he didn't even realize he possessed, he leaves the safety and ordered life he has always known, to go on a grand and dangerous and mysterious adventure.  Along the way, he encounters teachers, subway and train conductors, policemen and an assortment of family, friends and strangers  including his father Joe Cassidy and mother Margot White and favorite teacher Thalia Eddy as well as Elizabeth Jebran, Mauricio Miranda, Justin Jager, Matthew Antoci, Alexandra Brokowski and Nicolle Cooper who aide or hinder his mission.  Kristin Wold directs this intriguing and exciting theatrical revelation into the mind.

 For tickets ($26-35, students $10), call the Connecticut Repertory Theatre at 860-486-2113 or online at crt.uconn.edu.  Performances are Wednesday at  7:30 p.m., Thursday an ASL interpretaton at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., a Sensory Friendly show, and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Follow Christopher on his journey of discovery, one that is unexpectedly shocking and totally unanticipated.

COME MEET AN INDEPENDENT AND SPIRITED “JANE EYRE” AT HARTFORD STAGE

Raised as an orphan in poor circumstances doesn’t guarantee that one is doomed to a lack of privileges or a life of sadness.  To prove this point, come make the acquaintance of one such creature, an independent and spirited Miss Jane Eyre whose fate experienced many ups and downs at the whims of others.  Created by Charlotte Bronte, “Jane Eyre” will exhibit itself in all its Gothic and Victorian splendor at Hartford Stage until Saturday, March 14. Helen Sadler is a strong willed female who knows her own strength and is willing stand up against all odds to win her freedom.  No shy and retiring wallflower, as Jane  she faces her future with courage  and stamina, with a steel backbone and steadfast moral compass.

By placing an advertisement, she  overcomes her poor beginnings with a mean and thoughtless aunt Reed (Felicity Jones Latta) to find a position as a governess in the home of a strange and mysterious employer, Mr. Edward Rochester.  Her new situation as the caregiver for a young ward Adele (Meghan Pratt) is quite different than her poor treatment with her aunt and cousin John (Grayson De Jesus) at Gateshead and years at boarding school.  Jane longs for adventure and travel and hopes her new position at Thornfield Hall will bring her both.

There are secrets hiding at Thornfield, however, and Jane finds herself saving Mr. Rochester’s (Chandler Williams) life when a fire breaks out. As the pair grow closer, he uses wealthy guests like Miss Blanche Ingram (Marie-France Ingram) to disguise his unhappiness and keep his affection for Jane at a distance.  When an old friend Mason (Grayson De Jesus) come to visit, another disturbing incident occurs that adds further mystery to the household. Mason hints to Jane that a dreadful secret lurks at Thornfield and inquires if it is revealed would she leave.  Jane answers a defiant ”no.”

When Edward proposes to Jane, a revelation on their wedding day causes Jane to fee to the moors.  Her return to Gateshead reveals her aunt is near death but is no more forgiving than earlier.  A visit to the home of clergyman St John Rivers offers Jane a new beginning but problems arise.  Will Jane and Edward reunite or are their circumstances too damaged to ever reconcile?  Will his secrets ever be revealed and resolved? Is Jane destined to die unloved? 

Elizabeth Williamson has adapted and directed this splendid version of a classic tale, stuffed with drama and dreams and plot twists and turns. 

For tickets ($25 and up), call the Hartford Stage, 50 Church Street, Hartford at 860-527-5151 or online at https://www.hartfordstage.org/jane-eyre/  Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Sunday and select weekday matinees at 2 p.m.

Follow Jane across the moors, abandoning orphanages and cruel relatives, to unlock secrets and tragedies and discover the elusive promise of love.

TALLULAH IS COMING TO BERLIN

With a tumbler of scotch in one hand and a cigarette dangling in the other, Tallulah Bankhead was a southern actress who flaunted excesses and ravished underlings.  Outspoken and flamboyant, she had a persona that was larger-than-life.  The famous lady in question will be bringing her giant sized ego and personality to the stage of the Connecticut Cabaret in Berlin weekends until Saturday, March 21. 

Kelly Boucher will play the famous, or infamous if you prefer, star in "Looped" by Matthew Lombardo, under the careful and detailed direction of Kris McMurray.  In the summer of 1965, Tallulah Bankhead was "invited" to return to the studio to re-record, dub or "loop" one line of dialogue from her last movie "Die! Die! My Darling!"

The fact that the actress was drunk when she arrives, the fact that she was demanding and difficult, the fact that she has a battle royal of wits with the film editor Danny Miller, a patient but troubled Chris Pearson, all combine to make what should have been a fifteen minute breeze into an eight hour ordeal, an intensely humorous ordeal.

The play is based on this true event.  The legendary actress had to say "And so Patricia, as I was telling you, that deluded rector has in literal effect closed the church to me."     The movie was a British thriller about a woman (Mrs. Trefoile, played by Bankhead) who blames Patricia for her son's death.

They were to marry but he dies in a car accident.  The religion-crazed and demented Mrs. Trefoile holds Patricia captive to cleanse her soul and ultimately to kill her.  Fortunately Patricia is rescued and Mrs. Trefoile meets a deadly end.

 Boucher's tour-de-force performance as Tallulah is on the cutting edge of fabulous. She and Pearson are wonderful foils for each other, as they battle to achieve their separate goals, both aided by the sound engineer, played off stage by a bored Steve captured beautifully by James J. Moran.

For tickets ($35), call the CT Cabaret, 31-33 Webster Square Road, Berlin at 860-829-1248 or online at www.ctcabaret.com. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7:15 p.m. Remember this is cabaret so bring goodies to share at your table or plan to buy them at the concession stand on site.

Witness the showdown between a traditionally mild mannered sound editor, played by Chris Pearson, who is tempted to use his audio cords and wires to squeeze the correct words from the throat of the inebriated star, a temperamental star created perfectly by Kelly Boucher.

INDIA BY WAY OF NEW ZEALAND IS COMING TO FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY

 

Bollywood is coming to Fairfield University by way of New Zealand and it promises to be a- once-in-a-lifetime festival of fun and frivolity. Come take a seat in Krishnan’s Dairy, dine on Indian specialities, dance as if no one is watching and participate in all the theatrical comedy and drama.  

 

The occasion is the Hindu Festival of Onam, a harvest feast – Kevala – that celebrates a trio of events:  life, death and renewal, and Mrs. Krishnan is seated at the head of the holiday table.  Plan to don a scarf or floral garland, and maybe even a bindi, a colorful jewel for the forehead, and leave all your inhibitions outside the room, in this case the Wien Experimental Theatre.  The Indian Ink Theatre Company will invade Fairfield University on Thursday, February 20 at 7 p.m., Friday, February 21 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, February 22 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. 

 

Indian Ink, led by founders Jacob Rajan and Justin Lewis, hails from New Zealand and has been introducing Mrs. Krishnan for more than two decades all over its homeland, India, Europe, Australia, Singapore, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.  Now it is your turn to join in this spectacular participatory storytelling event.

 

When Justin Rogers’ James, a boarder at Mrs. Krishnan’s establishment, decides to celebrate Onam, his unsuspecting landlady created by Kalyani Nagarajan is less than enthusiastic.  But soon she is stirring onions in the dal and preparing a feast of spicy lentils, peas and beans, overcoming her heart ship of losing her husband and rediscovering her happiness and passion for life.  You are there to witness the pair’s finding what is important in life and how to overcome hardships, and maybe shed a few tears amidst the many moments of laughter.

 

As Indian Ink describes itself, “We aim to make theatre that is beautiful, funny, sad and true.  We go to the theatre to be transported by a great story and to enjoy characters who live large in our imaginations.  We want the experience to leave an indelible imprint on your hearts.  That’s why we’re called Indian Ink!”

 

Your tickets depend on how close you sit to the food and the conversation:  top table and inner circle $40, Quick members $35; Wallflowers $30, Quick members $25, who line the outskirts, raised and seated;  standing only and party animals $15, Quick members $10;  Fairfield University students $5.  Call Fairfield University box office at 203-254-4010 or go online to www.quickcenter.fairfield.edu.

 

Dressing in a sari is strictly your choice.  Come be transported to a new land, to experience a culture that will soon be beloved and fill your heart with the joy of family as strangers bond over a shared party with a distinct eastern flavor.

 

 

"GODSPELL” A GARDEN OF HEAVENLY REVIVAL

Since it was composed in 1971, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by John-Michael Tebelak, the famed musical “Godspell,” the story of the parables from the Gospel of St. Matthew, is experiencing a total makeover. Inspired by a vision by ACT of Connecticut, a Contemporary Theater in Ridgefield, and by its founder and artistic director Daniel C. Levine, a unique interpretation will be showcased until Sunday, March 8.

When Levine witnessed scenes of the tragic fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in April of last year, he conceived moving the musical to an abandoned church in Manhattan, inhabited by children squatters, that is destined to be destroyed in twenty four hours to allow condominiums on the site. In conferring with Schwartz, Levine got his blessing to revise the piece and ACT will premiere this new adaptation now.

If your parables need polishing and your morals need motivation and your acts as a good samaritan need stimulation, then  ACT has just the musical to get you moving. 

This lively troupe performs a series of skits, sketches and songs that are wrapped in a cloak of the gospel of St. Matthew, all the while dancing and cavorting with joy.  Like a rock concert and Sunday revival meeting combined, these  performers take the audience along as they provide lessons on how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and how to guarantee you get to the Pearly Gates.  A dynamic Jesus, captured by Trent Saunders, leads his faithful followers  on a mission of peace and philosophy, sharing his images of a place of promise. 

Glorious songs like “Day By Day,” “Save the People,” "By My Side." “All for the Best” and “We Beseech Thee” set the tone for salvation and redemption.  Using games like Pictionary, charades and jump rope and devices like Vaudeville and ventriloquism, this talented cast is rousing and enthusiastic in its delivery. It is a Sunday school class like you’ve never seen before.

Spreading the word of God are Jaime Cepero as Judas and John the Baptist, Shaylen Harger, Jacob Hoffman, Katie Ladner, Alex Lugo, Cameron Nies, Andrew  Poston, Monica Ramirez, Phil Sloves, Morgan Billings Smith,and Emma Tattenbaum-Fine as well as a bevy of children.  Under the able leadership of director Daniel C Levine, the troupe forms a community that performs "like a freight train” to light up the world and prepare the way for the Lord.  The glorious words of “Day By Day” that pray for one to see and love and follow God was one of the high points of the show. Kudos to Sara Brians as choreographer, Jack Mehler as lighting design and John Saluz for sound design. For tickets ($57-72), call the box office at  475-215-5433, 36 Old Quarry Road, Ridgefield or online at www.actofct.org. Performances are Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

The spirit will definitely move, lift and inspire you as you rejoice in the words and the deeds that are sprinkled like seeds in a fertile field, for you to gather and enjoy.

“I AM MY OWN WIFE” A STUDY IN COMPLEX CONTROVERSY

Jacob Padron, the new Artistic  Director of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, wants to engage the community in a theater that belongs to the people, forming a family, breaking down barriers, creating an artistic home. To that end, he is welcoming a unique one person play to the stage “I Am My Own Wife” written by Doug Wright, a Tony and Pulitzer Award -winning playwright.  A necklace of pearls is de rigueur, in the style of Barbara Bush,and it is clear the pearls are a symbolic connection with the star of the current  show offering. 

Until Sunday, March 1, this intimate and revealing story will unveil the life of Lothar Berfelde who chose to live his existence as Charlotte von Mahlsdorf in East Germany during two of the most difficult times in history, the Nazi and the Communist regimes. Early on, Lothar discovered that he needed to dress and act as a woman and he did so without compromise.

Along the way, she became a great collector of phonographs, clocks, music boxes and furniture, so much so that she turned her large home into a museum that she opened to the public, giving tours as Charlotte for a small donation. When she was introduced to the playwright, Wright was impressed by Charlotte’s survival and wanted to write a  play and study her life.  This memorable opportunity consisted of a series of interviews.  Once they were completed, Wright spent years with writer’s block, unable to put all the aspects of Charlotte’s life into a complex framework.

Charlotte described herself as having piercing eyes, a crooked smile, a pageboy white hairdo, with the hands of a woodworker. She bravely defied the restrictions of the day, for example by playing the music of Jewish composers. When her actions were questioned by the police, she was stripped of her previous honors and accused of being a spy.  Eventually she was forced to leave Germany and resettled in Sweden.

Over the years, she also met a large number of unusual people whom actor Mason Alexander Park admirably conveys in snippets and anecdotes throughout the two plus hours of the play. People like the playwright Wright and his friend John Marks who introduced him to Charlotte, the antique dealer Alfred Kirschner, the Stasi police, Nazis and a favored aunt Tante Luise are among the almost forty different personalities she portrays in awesome ways, flawlessly and completely.

This true and fascinatingly bizarre story is directed by Rebecca Martinez, with a dramatic set of phonograph horns that look like flowers designed by Britton Maur, sound and original music by Kimberly S. O’Loughlin and impressionable lighting by Jennifer Fox..

For tickets ($32 and up), call the Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven at 203-787-4282 or online at www.longwharftheatre.org. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at 7 p.m.,  Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees Sunday at 2 p.m. and  Saturdays at 3 p.m.

Literally sneak a peek under the skirts of a man who lived his life as a woman and possibly was a murderer, an informant or a spy along the way.

SUPERSTAR COMING TO HARTFORD’S BUSHNELL

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was never one to take

 the road more traveled. Even as a teenager, when he was testing out his literary pen, he chose a topic less mainstream and more creative: he wrote a musical about a boy in the Bible who receives an  unusual gift from his father. That became the world famous rock musical “Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

In the years to come, Lloyd Webber continued his unorthodox choice of subject matter by composing musicals about a gang of backyard felines (CATS), a poor woman who rises to become a powerful figurehead in her country (Evita), teams of train engines who race on roller skates (Starlight Express) and a disfigured young man hiding in the bowels of a Paris opera house (The Phantom of the Opera). 

Now you have the opportunity to experience another record breaking musical about another boy in the Bible: “Jesus Christ, Superstar,” playing at the  Bushnell Center  for the Performing  Arts in Hartford from Tuesday, February 25 to Sunday, March 1. Composed by Lloyd Webber with Tim Rice, this almost fifty old musical of the last week in the life of Jesus Christ is itself undergoing a metamorphosis. This is urban streets meet punk rock, a modern day retelling of a savior who wants to cleanse the world of corruption and sin. This last seven days in the life of Jesus Christ, who is portrayed by a memorable Aaron LaVigne, is told through the eyes of his betrayer, one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, played with all his anger and confusion evident by James Delisco Beeks.

Tender moments are underscored by Jenna Ruball’s Mary Magdalene as she confesses of Jesus “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” while the passion and suffering are momentarily alleviated by the antics of a song and dance Vaudeville routine by King Herod, Paul Louis Lessard. This spectacular rock musical is directed by Timothy Sheader and choreographed by Drew McOnie.

For tickets ($31 and up) call the Bushnell, 166 Capitol Avenue, Hartford at 860-987-5900 or online at www.bushnell.org. Performances are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday, at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Enter the emotional whirlwind as Jesus Christ realizes that those closest to him are determined to witness his destruction.

“SYLVIA” WOOFS UP A WONDERFUL TREAT AT MUSIC THEATRE OF CT

Many men, as they approach middle age, long to recapture their youth by buying a fire engine red sports car.  But midlife crises don’t affect every gentleman in the same manner, as noted with Greg who goes in a totally different direction as he approaches that difficult age. If there were an eleventh commandment, Greg might entitle it to read:  Thou shalt own a dog.  Where else might one find such devotion, fidelity, companionship, comfort and unconditional love wrapped up in one furry package with a tail, wet nose and optional fleas?

 

For middle-aged and mild mannered Greg, finding a part poodle, part lab in Central Park, with the dog tag Sylvia, coincides with a mental and emotional crisis he is facing.  No longer enamored with his job, in an empty nest marriage with the children grown and flying free and his wife enthusiastically starting a new career teaching Shakespeare to middle school students, Greg is ripe for a new direction in life. 

Instead of a red convertible, taking up golf or karate, he seeks affection in an adorable four-footed ball of fluff.  Watch how delightfully A. R. Gurney propels humor and wit into the fray in “Sylvia” settling in at Norwalk’s Music Theatre of Connecticut weekends until Sunday, February 23. You don’t have to be a dog lover to enjoy the antics Sylvia brings to the couch or the Manhattan apartment where Greg resides with his wife Kate of twenty plus years. 

While Bethany Fitzgerald’s Sylvia makes herself very much at home on the off limits living room sofa, cuddling up to her new god in the person of Dennis Holland’s Greg who rescued her, the odd person out, Greg’s wife Kate, Carole Dell’Aquila, is less than thrilled with the new threesome.  It’s as if Greg invited a mistress into their home because Fitzgerald as the adorable Sylvia, referred to by Kate  disdainfully as “Saliva,” provides Greg with oodles of drooling affection, wiggles and wags galore and charming conversation.

 

Completing the talented cast is a versatile Jim Schilling who provides a trio of great foils for the pooch to relate to, annoy and attack.  Kevin Connors as director keeps the funny fur flying as Sylvia launches herself into the family fray with fervor, friendliness and an occasional foul f-letter word.

 

For tickets ($35-65), call Music Theatre of CT, 509 Westport Avenue, Norwalk (behind Bright Beginnings) at 203-454-3883 or online at www.musictheatreofct.com.  Performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. 

 

A special event to benefit “PAWS,”a local animal non-profit, will take place on Friday, February 21 with 15% of ticket sales being donated to support their amazing cause!

Let Sylvia of the limpid eyes and frisky tail seduce you, just as she does Greg, putting him squarely in the doghouse, with Kate firmly holding the leash.  It’s bow-wow wonderful! 

FOR THE FOURTH YEAR IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE SERVES AS INCUBATOR FOR WOMEN’S PLAYWRIGHTING INITIATIVE

Plays for and about women, written by women and starring women, will be celebrated at the Ivoryton Playhouse on Saturday February 22 at 2 p.m. and continuing at 7 p.m. For the fourth year, the Women Playwrights Initiative will serve as an incubator to foster new works that view women in a quartet of unique situations, ones that will engender laughter and tears, and stimulate conversations and networking possibilities.

From 170 submitted works, four will be highlighted.  The four playwrights hail from the state of Washington, California, Indiana and Maryland and will each receive the Ellie Award and a $500 stipend.  Ivoryton Playhouse will serve as a safe and encouraging environment  for the playwright, director and actors to generate ideas and develop this festival of new possibilities.

At 2 p.m., come enter Sharon Goldner’s world of “Savior” directed by Kate Katcher, where a yoga class becomes the unlikely venue where one mom reveals her five year old son has confided to her that he is the messiah.  This refreshingly comic staged reading will be followed by Crystal V. Rhodes’ “1200 Miles From Jerome,”  directed by Kathryn Markey,  a dangerous and serious tale from the 1940s.  The Franklin family is traveling with a fugitive during World WAR II in the Deep South risking their lives at a time when white and black are not allowed the same privileges and every step is a challenge to life and limb.

At 7 p.m., Holly Arsenault will present “Court,” directed by Jacqueline Hubbard, taking a hard and personal look at divorce and custody from the viewpoint of a thirteen year old, one directly influenced and affected by the outcome.  This will be followed by “Deanna and Paul” by Dagney Kerr, directed by Missy Burmeister, where a cup of coffee in a café pits a waitress Deanna with a strict no tipping policy who meets her match in Paul,  an unconventional customer with a mind fixated on his demands.

For tickets ($20 adult, $15 senior, $10 student for one performance or buy both for $30 adult, $25 senior, $10 student), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org.

Be at the forefront when these exciting plays - 4 x 4 in 2020 - take center stage for the first time in Ivoryton Playhouse’s Women Playwrights Initiative.

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“LOVE & SPUMONI” ARE ON THE MENU AT SEVEN ANGELS THEATRE

More than four hundred years ago, in Verona, Italy, a young girl named Juliet and her new courtier Romeo became the first star-crossed lovers thanks to the Bard. They were not, however, the only ones to endure hardship and complications on the rocky road to romance.  Just ask Mary Lou Pilard who found herself in Juliet’s shoes when she entered Sacred Heart High School in Waterbury and sighted a young man named Anthony and it was love at immediate view.  This true story was first presented at the story telling event The Moth, then transferred to public radio, a podcast, a novel and now is enjoying its world premiere in a play by Jacques Lamarre at Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury until Sunday, February 23.

Unlike Shakespeare’s tale, there were initially no feuding families to threaten the pair.  But the fact that Mary Lou hailed from a close-knit Italian family, religious and conservative, and Anthony was a black student definitely flavored the teenager’s problems.  It was 1984 and love was not on the agenda for these two innocents. As Mary Lou stalked Anthony in aggressive and subtle ways, she steadily convinced him that she was serious in her pursuit.  The humorous interactions are a delight to behold.

Maria Baratta is the expressive and versatile narrator and adult Mary Lou who plays all the people in the story, from her mother and father, sisters, nonna and friends, even Uncle Dominic who carries a gun and threatens to use it when the “secret” relationship escapes into the prejudiced air.  Marissa Follow Perry is the deeply committed and dedicated pursuer of love who shoots her arrows straight at Anthony’s heart.  The object of her affection is Dante Jeanfelix, the adorable receiver of all that attention who finally surrenders to the full fledged attack.

Will the families destroy the tender shoots of love in bloom?  Will Mary Lou find herself exiled and forced to abandon her home? Can Anthony’s mother accept her and welcome her into her new role?  Will these psudo-Capulets and Montagues allow peace to reign before any one is permanently hurt?  Sasha Bratt directs and choreographs this sweet foray into young love with all its pitfalls, problems and promises.

For tickets ($42-49), call Seven Angels Theatre, 1 Plank Road, Waterbury at 203-757-4676 or online at www.sevenangelstheatre.org. Performances are  Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. A special talk back with Mary Lou Pilard and Jacques Lamarre will be held on Thursday, February 20 after the 2 pm. and 7:30 p.m. shows.

Mark your calendar for a visit with “Coconuts,” on Saturday, February 29 at 8 p.m. for comedy, music and a wild ride.  Known for their crazy parodies, fun sing-alongs and rock classics, original members John Swanson, Dan LaRosa and Paul Bongiovanni, with Joey DeCarlo and Mike Savenelli,  have  been entertaining for decades.  For tickets ($20), call the box office.

Come cheer on young love and sympathize with all their antics and anxieties as the newest Juliet and her Romeo work to make sure the arrows pierce the target and score a victory.

THE PLIGHT OF NATIVE AMERICANS ELOQUENTLY EXPLORED IN “MANAHATTA” AT YALE REP

STEVEN FLORES IN "MANAHATTA"   PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS

Playwright Mary Kathryn Nagle is uniquely qualified to speak to the traditions and history of Native Americans and the inhuman treatment so many suffered as a result of foreign invaders. As an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and an attorney working to help her people, she is the first Native playwright to have her work presented on the Yale Repertory Theatre stage for its east coast premiere. Her new play “Manahatta” takes place in the past and the present simultaneously and switches time periods seamlessly while making its message of less than human treatment painfully obvious.  The invaders from afar took the land and the lives, stealing all their possessions and natural resources along the way.

New Haven’s Yale Repertory Theatre will painfully and poignantly explore their plight until Saturday, February 15, focusing on the island of Manhattan and the tribe’s displacement in Oklahoma. The past and present, and even the future, of the Lenape tribe of the Delaware nation are central to this history that is rife to correct myths and inconsistencies, change the narrative and end the silence.

Time travels from the initial contacts between the Lenape four hundred years ago and the Dutch East India Company and Governor Peter Minuit (Jeffrey King) who traded wampum for furs.  Once he realized the value of Manahatta, he tricked the Native Americans into giving up their home for a bag of trinkets, like guns, kettles and axes, worth $24, in 1626.  Manahatta is the Lenape word for “many hills.”

Fast forward to present day and witness an unscrupulous banker (T, Ryder Smith) convince Mother (Carla-Rae) to mortgage her home to pay the hospital bills for her husband, only to lose it when the payments raced out of control.  Her daughters Debra (Shyla Lefner) and Jane (Lily Gladstone) are unaware of their mother’s financial decision until it is too late to stop it. Ironically Jane works on Wall Street as a trader and is central to the mortgage crisis in 2008 that causes millions to lose their homes, much like her own mother. She now works at the investment firm on land which her ancestors once called home.

All the actors move effortlessly back and forth in time, as the Lenape and their enemies in the past and the present, including Danforth Comins and Steven Flores. who help portray both the Natives and the newcomers.

This glide across generations does not disguise the fact that the Lenape are cheated of their land again and again. Laurie Woolery directs this impassioned look at history and our disturbing view at the peoples who settled this nation at first break of day and our treatment of them.

For tickets ($25-79), call the Yale Rep, 1120 Chapel Street, New Haven at 203-432-1234 or online at www. yale.rep.org.  Performances are Tuesday to Saturday at 8 p.m., with matinees at 2 pm. Saturday and Wednesday, February 5. 

Let Mary Kathryn Nagle be your guide through one of our nation’s less than admirable periods of history, one that is subject to scrutiny and correction.