Category: News

Shaw Festival A Prime Theatre Town

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Those beleaguered folks in Stratford, still trying to make that town a theatre destination with the Shakespeare festival, would do well to pay a visit to Niagara-on-the-Lake in Canada. This postcard-perfect Ontario town – just minutes from Niagara Falls – is a theatre destination spot done right. Now in its 55th season, the annual Shaw Festival converts this glorious little town with its unique shops and endless hanging baskets of flowers into a prime theatre venue from April to late October every year. It’s well worth the trip. Read more… read more

Hello CT Theater Goers

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Welcome to the CT Theater Goers blog. Each week members of the CT Critics Circle will share their thoughts about current or upcoming theater productions. Some fun facts: Did you know that when Disney first produced Newsies, now playing at the CT Repertory Theater, it was never meant to go to Broadway. However, the critical reaction to the show was so great when it played New Jersey’s Papermill Playhouse that a Broadway production became a must. When playwright George Brant’s Grounded, now playing at the Westport Country Playhouse, opened Off-Broadway Oscar winner Anne Hathaway starred in the one-woman show. read more

Paulette Haupt Named Winner of 2017 Tom Killen Award

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Since 1978, Haupt has served as artistic director of the National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. In that capacity, she has selected and guided the development of more than 120 new musicals including Nine, Avenue Q, Violet, The Wild Party, In The Heights, and Darling Grenadine, which will be performed at Goodspeed Musicals’ Norma Terris Theatre in Chester later this summer. An associate producer for Polly Pen’s Goblin Market Off Broadway, Haupt has commissioned, developed, and produced new works for OPERA America, the National Alliance for Musical Theater, and Columbia Artists Management. Following her San Francisco… read more

2017 CT Critics Circle Awards

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*denotes winner Special Awards Paxton Whitehead James Lescene Tom Killen Award Paulette Haupt Outstanding Solo Performance Jodi Stevens (I’ll Eat You Last) – MTC *Jon Peterson (He Wrote Good Songs) – 7 Angels Outstanding Debut *Maya Keleher (Next to Normal) – TheaterWorks Dylan Frederick (Assassins) – Yale Rep. Nick Sacks (Next to Normal) – TheaterWorks Outstanding Ensemble Cast of Smart People – Long Wharf Cast of Trav’lin (7 Angels) *Cast of Meteor Shower (Long Wharf) Cast of Assassins (Yale Rep.) Cast of The 39 Steps (Ivoryton) The Cast of Meteor Shower is: Patrick Breen, Sophina Brown, Arden Myrin, and Josh… read more

Anne Keefe Named Winner of 2016 Tom Killen Award

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WESTPORT — Anne Keefe, associate artist with the Westport Country Playhouse, who was part of the team that transformed the theater nearly two decades ago, will be presented this year’s Tom Killen Award from the Connecticut Critics Circle in June. The award, recognizing Keefe’s “years of extraordinary achievement and service to Connecticut theater,” will be presented at the Critic Circle’s 26th annual awards event at 7:30 p.m. June 13 at Hartford Stage. Keefe also has been a stage manager at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven and various Broadway venues. Previous winners of the award include Lucille Lortel, founder of… read more

2016 CT Critics Circle Awards

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The ceremony was held at Hartford Stage on Monday, June 13, 2016. (*denotes winner) Special Awards Lisa Gutkin Aaron Halva Outstanding Debut Mohit Gautam (Disgraced) – Long Wharf Theater Outstanding Production – Musical *Anastasia – Hartford Stage Hair – Playhouse on Park La Cage Aux Folles – Goodspeed Musicals My Paris – Long Wharf Theatre South Pacific – Ivoryton Playhouse Outstanding Production – Play Disgraced – Long Wharf Theatre Good People – Theaterworks *Indecent – Yale Repertory Theatre Red – Westport Country Playhouse Happy Days – Yale Repertory Theatre Outstanding Actor – Play R. Ward Duffy (Good People) – Theaterworks… read more

2015 CT Critics Circle Awards

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*denotes winner Special Awards Shawn Boyle – Projections for Elevada at Yale Repertory Theatre Summer Theatre of New Canaan – DramaRama Program Split Knuckle Theater Group – for their production of Endurance Tom Killen Award Carmen de Lavallade Outstanding Debut Curtis J. Cook (Brownsville Song) – Long Wharf Theatre *Carl Lundstedt (Reverberation) – Hartford Stage Dina Shihabi (Picasso at the Lapin Agile) – Long Wharf Theatre Brittany Vicars (Hamlet) – Hartford Stage Outstanding Sound Design David Budries (Picasso at the Lapin Agile) – Long Wharf Theatre Kate Marvin (Elevada) – Yale Repertory Theatre Adam Phalen (Forever) – Long Wharf Theatre… read more

2014 CT Critics Circle Awards

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*denotes winner Tom Killen Award *Athol Fugard Special Awards Billie Joe Armstrong (Songs for …Bullets) – Yale Repertory Theatre A Broken Umbrella Theatre Company Outstanding Production of a Play *Macbeth – Hartford Stage The House That Will Not Stand – Yale Repertory Theatre The Other Place – Hartford TheaterWorks *These! Paper! Bullets! – Yale Repertory Theatre Time Stands Still – Hartford TheaterWorks Somewhere – Hartford Stage Outstanding Production of a Musical Dreamgirls – Ivoryton Playhouse Hello, Dolly! – Goodspeed Opera House The Drowsy Chaperone – Connecticut Repertory Theatre The Last Five Years – Long Wharf Theatre *The Most Happy Fella… read more

2013 CT Critics Circle Awards

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*denotes winner Tom Killen Award *Aetna New Voices program at Hartford Stage Outstanding Costume Design (tie) Gabriel Berry (Marie Antoinette) – Yale Rep *Linda Cho (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) – Hartford Stage *Linda Cho (Twelfth Night) – Hartford Stage Olivera Gajic (Pirates of Penzance) – CT Repertory Theatre Ilona Somogyi (Tartuffe) – Westport Country Playhouse Fabio Toblini (Hedda Gabler) – Hartford Stage Outstanding Lighting Design (tie) Christopher Akerlind (Marie Antoinette) – Yale Rep Mary Jo Dondlinger (Almost, Maine) – TheaterWorks John Lasiter (Carousel) – Goodspeed Musicals Matthew Richards (Tartuffe) – Westport Country Playhouse *Philip Rosenberg (The Year… read more