BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! The word's longest running musical which ran off-Broadway for 42 years! This funny and romantic musical tells an allegorical story concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children into falling in love by pretending to feud.
With over 14 million copies sold, Tuesdays with Morrie stands among the most popular and most read books in the world. And the play doesn't disappoint... bringing this delightful, profound, humorous, entertaining tear-jerker to life.
As Morrie profoundly suggests, when it comes to "that last journey into the great unknown...people want to know what to pack.”
Mitch Albom, a successful sports reporter, is drawn to reconnect with his old sociology professor when he learns on Nightline that Morrie Schwartz has ALS, also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. What’s initially intended as a one-time visit by Mitch—uncomfortable with Morrie’s “touchy-feely” tendencies and frank mentions of death—grows into recurring meetings, always on Tuesdays, where the pair discuss purpose, regrets, life, and death.
‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ lives up to its reputation as a crowd-pleaser … and continues to dampen cheeks and warm hearts.
Humorist Jean Shepherd's memoir of growing up in the midwest in the 1940s follows 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in his quest to get a genuine Red Ryder BB gun under the tree for Christmas. Ralphie pleads his case before his mother, his teacher and even Santa Claus himself at Higbee's Department Store. The consistent response: "You'll shoot your eye out!" All the elements from the beloved motion picture are here, including the family's temperamental exploding furnace; Scut Farkas, the school bully; the boys' experiment with a wet tongue on a cold lamppost; the Little Orphan Annie decoder pin; Ralphie's father winning a lamp shaped like a woman's leg in a net stocking; Ralphie's fantasy scenarios and more. A Christmas Story is destined to become a theatrical holiday perennial.
Based on the motion picture A Christmas Story, © 1983 Turner Entertainment Co., distributed by Warner Bros., written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark; and on the book In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd.
A CONCERT READING at the CARRIAGE BARN ARTS CENTER
As we need the extra space to produce all the high-quality productions we have for you, we are performing this staged concert reading at the Carriage Barn Arts Center next door to the Powerhouse Theatre.
David Mamet’s controversial play “Oleanna” was an Off Broadway sensation in 1992 and went on to a long, successful run in London.
When it debuted in the wake of the 1991 Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings on Capitol Hill, “Oleanna” seemed to encapsulate the stormy national debate over sexual harassment. In its gripping dramatization of an ambiguous, increasingly tortured exchange between a male professor and his female student, it challenged the rampant political correctness of the time.
By showing that conflicts between superiors and subordinates are far more complex than conventional victim-centered feminism allowed, Mamet dared to suggest that both parties bear equal responsibility in any social transaction. “Oleanna” forces the audience to become a jury, a voyeuristic Greek chorus who must scrutinize the behavior of the two clashing characters and weigh their testimony. Different viewers will come to different conclusions. There is only perception of right and wrong.
For seven years, a certain boy wizard went to a certain wizard school and conquered evil. This, however, is not his story. This is the story of the Puffs…who just happened to be there too. Puffs; or, Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic is a tale for anyone who has never been destined to save the world. This clever and inventive play gives you a new look at a familiar adventure from the perspective of three potential heroes just trying to make it through a magic school that proves to be very dangerous for children. Alongside them are the Puffs, a group of well-meaning, loyal outsiders with a thing for badgers. Their epic journey takes the classic story to new places and reimagines what a boy wizard hero can be.
The New York Times proclaims PUFFS, “A FAST-PACED ROMP through the ‘Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic.’ For POTTERphiliacs who grew up alongside Potter and are eager to revisit that world, ‘PUFFS’ exudes a jovial, winking fondness for all things Harry!”
This clever and inventive play “never goes more than a minute without a laugh” (Nerdist) giving you a new look at a familiar adventure from the perspective of three potential heroes just trying to make it through a magic school that proves to be very dangerous for children. Alongside them are the Puffs, a group of well-meaning, loyal outsiders with a thing for badgers “who are so lovable and relatable, you’ll leave the theater wishing they were in the stories all along” (Hollywood Life). Their “hilariously heartfelt!” (Metro) and epic journey takes the classic story to new places and reimagines what a boy wizard hero can be.
WORDS FROM THE FRONT is a multi-media production which captures the effect of the war on real people: Russians, living in fear and moral outrage; a Ukrainian soldier, fighting for the life of his country and his family; a Ukrainian couple, shedding light on the war and on their immigration to the United States.
The Manhattan Project’s Alice in Wonderland!
Our theater will be transformed into a new space for this show… seating will be re-configured.
We are all familiar with Alice’s adventures, but this version is arrestingly different. Not the typical children’s theatre (but still fun for kids 10+) audiences. Using the story of Alice’s encounters down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass,in the 1970's, the Manhattan Project created an avant-garde Alice, with actors morphing into various characters, lovingly constructed by a company of dedicated performing artists. Our production will be both an homage to their work, and completely our own, the result of our own process.
Time magazine called Manhattan Project's unique adaptation “…an exciting, absorbing, vertiginous descent…”
Written by Andre Gregory and the Manhattan Project
Directed by Peter Green
Original Music by Keith Levenson
We are so excited to have the GRAMMY NOMINATED Keith Levenson compose original music for our production!
Keith began his career as musical director at the world-famous Stagedoor Manor for the Performing Arts. He wrote the Off-Broadway musical The City Suite at the age of 18. Other compositions include Galileo, co-written with Jeanine Tesori and Alexa Junge, The Flowering Peach, by Clifford Odets and Winchell with Martin Charnin.
Keith's career has run the gamut from Broadway's Annie to Meatloaf, from the London Symphony Orchestra to The Who. Keith composed and co-produced The Who Live at Wembley in 2019, which was nominated for a Grammy.
When not touring Keith has generously donated his time to community theaters in NY and CT. He composed the original score for Almost Maine at the Darien Arts Center, directed by Carin Zakes, and has composed/arranged multiple LawnChair Theatre productions and cabarets with Peter Green.
Show runtime is 75 minutes with no intermission.
ANNOUNCING…. A SPECIAL ONE NIGHT ONLY personal tribute to New Canaan’s one and only POPPA BLUE by his son, Robert “Bobby” Troup.
The performance is a one man show, based on the life of his legendary father, local celebrity, Bob, “Poppa Blue” Troup (aka: “The Colonel,” “Big Bob,” or “Judge” Troup). Poppa Blue was a generous, warm-hearted, civic-minded, jive-talking, brashly-dressed compassionate man who took his role looking after everyone in town very seriously. He seemed to relish spreading love and good cheer to the denizens of little old New Canaan. If you needed any kind of help, advice of just wanted to crack up in the presence of his rapid-fire doublespeak, he was always happy to oblige. His only goal seemed to be to leave an impression on the hearts of those he cared for. Poppa Blue had a complex, deeply private personal story filled with tales of childhood abuse and abandonment, wartime horror, financial success which lead, eventually, to economic devastation. His perseverance in following the ideals of his kind heart were what ultimately gave him satisfaction, pleasure and defined who he was.
To this day, 11 years after he left this planet, mention of his name and the wacky legacy he left behind come back to me on a regular basis. He may not have been the richest man, money-wise but the impression he made on people’s hearts endures to this day. His son,”Bobolink” has written a touching, deeply personal, entertaining and sometimes hilarious one man show based on his father. It’s about a man constructing a legacy of compassion and affection for his fellow citizens. When faced with the choice between living a life dedicated to pursuing a fortune or helping others, he chose to look after his neighbors. He was an outsized, big personality in a quiet, small town, Poppa Blue was an important figure to plenty of people. He continues to be revered by many as an ideal. Someone who always put others first. His son’s personal monologue is definitely an homage to that spirit.
TALK-BACK AFTER for those interested in sharing their short stories of interactions with Poppa Blue.
A delight for your eyes... Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice reimagines the classic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice not through Orpheus's infamous pilgrimage to retrieve his bridge, but through the eyes of its heroine, his wife.
Full of dark humor, lyrical beauty, and wit, Eurydice transforms a traditional myth with contemporary characters, ingenious plot twists, and breathtaking visual effects, this visceral play is a fresh look at a timeless love.
“RHAPSODICALLY BEAUTIFUL. A weird and wonderful new play – an inexpressibly moving theatrical fable about love, loss and the pleasures and pains of memory.” - The New York Times
"Perhaps more than anything else, the eerie wonderland of “Eurydice” evokes the discombobulating experience of grief and loss, the desperate need to move on and the overwhelming desire never to let go — to turn and look back just one more time." - New York Times
“EXHILARATING!! A luminous retelling of the Orpheus myth, lush and limpid as a dream where both author and audience swim in the magical, sometimes menacing, and always thrilling flow of the unconscious.” - The New Yorker
“Touching, inventive, invigoratingly compact and luminously liquid in its rhythms and design, “Eurydice” reframes the ancient myth of ill-fated love to focus not on the bereaved musician but on his dead bride — and on her struggle with love beyond the grave as both wife and daughter.” - The San Francisco Chronicle
