Connecticut is like Mississippi in being a challenge to spell correctly. Its uniqueness may begin and end there. Luckily it’s bigger than Rhode Island and can boast great basketball teams from the University of Connecticut for both men and women teams. Go Huskies!
But as exciting, romantic or sexy states go, Connecticut wouldn’t rank at the top of the continental 48 and especially not if you add in Alaska and Hawaii. Connecticut is known as the Insurance Capitol of the World, thanks to Hartford, and also the Land of Steady Habits, The Constitution State and The Nutmeg State. Connecticut doesn’t enjoy the glamour of its neighbor to the south and west, New York, or the mystic of its northern bordering Massachusetts with its rich political history.
Yet do not give up hope. Connecticut born playwright Mike Reiss is coming to your rescue with a prideful play, a special comedy, “I’m Connecticut,” enjoying its new light of day at the Ivoryton Playhouse until Sunday, April 19 in Ivoryton.
“I’m Connecticut” tells the charming tale of a nice guy named Marc, played with spirit and sincerity by Quinn Corcoran, who while born in Simsbury, has transplanted himself to the Big Apple. His lack of success with women he blames on geography: he comes from a boring and beige state.
With clever dialogue and amazing visual effects by John Horzen on a colorful set by Starlet Jacobs, we follow Marc’s quest for love, much as we would Don Quixote’s search for the Impossible Dream. After an unsuccessful, substitute disastrous, speed dating event, Marc meets Diane (Deanna Ott), a Georgia peach who has come north for adventure.
A secondary love story blooms when Diane’s mom Polly, a delightful Bonnie Black, meets Marc’s grandfather, a spry R. Bruce Connelly. The speed dating manager (Kenneth Robert Marlo) and Marc’s work buddy Kyle (Michael Barra) run interference in this lively game of love mating directed by Artistic Director Jacqueline Hubbard. Others in the cast include Nathan Szymanski, Alexis Trice and Stephanie Wasser andJohn C. Baker as Mark Twain and Canada.
Mike Reiss, the Aetna 2011 Writing Fellow at UCONN, wrote this comedy only a few years ago. He is no stranger to the world of humor, having written scripts for “The Simpsons” for more than twenty years, co-wrote “The Simpsons Movie,” “Horton Hears a Who!,” “ Ice Age,” and “Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” the screenplay for “My Life in Ruins,” fourteen children’s books, as well as writing for “It’s Gerry Shandling’s Show,” “ALF” and “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.”
A native of Connecticut, Reiss is uniquely suited to pen a romantic tale about our state and infuse it, just like he does his hero Marc, with pride, enthusiasm and patriotic spirit. Unfortunately he also makes Marc a liar, a trait that derails him from his true path to passion.
For tickets ($60 adults, $55 seniors, $25 students, and discounts on Thursday), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at Ivorytonplayhouse.org. Performances are Wednesday at 2 p.m., Thursday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Root for your home team, in this case Marc and the entire Nutmeg state, as we cheer him on to find boasting rights and true love, all in seventy-five fun-filled minutes.
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