MARK AUERBACH
Three Great Events to Kick Off The New Year
The Body of an American Plays Hartford Enroute to New York City
Hartford Stage presents Dan O’Brien’s bold, radically theatrical and poetic true story, The Body of an American, directed by Jo Bonney and starring Michael Crane and Michael Cumpsty, from January 7-31 Winner of the inaugural Edward M. Kennedy Prize, the Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play and the PEN Center USA Award for Drama, The Body of an American is a co-production with Primary Stages in New York that will also play a limited engagement Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre in February and March.
“If you do this, I will own you forever.” Canadian photojournalist Paul Watson is haunted by the words he heard a dead soldier say as he took the photo that would win him the Pulitzer Prize and reshape American foreign policy. Playwright Dan O’Brien, struggling with ghosts of his own, reaches out to Watson, and the two forge a friendship as they reckon with the traumas that have shaped their lives.
Michael Cumpsty co-stars in The Body of an American at Hartford Stage.
A playwright, poet and librettist, O’Brien’s plays include The Cherry Sisters Revisited, The Dear Boy, The Voyage of the Carcass, Moving Picture, The House in Hydesville and Key West. A 2015 Guggenheim Fellow, O”Brien wrote the libretti for Jonathan Berger”s Visitations: Theotokia & The War Reporter, two chamber operas.
Michael Crane co-stars in The Body of an American at Hartford Stage.
Michael Crane’s most recent credits include Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) at American Repertory Theatre, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, King Lear and Richard III, all at The Public Theater. He has also appeared at Pioneer Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre and Williamstown Theatre Festival. He is known to television audiences for his recurring role on the NBC series “Kings.”
A Tony Award-nominee for End of the Rainbow in 2012, Michael Cumpsty has appeared in many Broadway productions, including La Bête, The Heiress, Copenhagen, The Constant Wife, Machinal, 1776 and Sunday in the Park with George. His television credits include recurring roles on “Boardwalk Empire,” “Star Trek Voyager” and “L.A. Law.” He’s an alum of StageWest in Springfield.
Recipient of the 1998 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Direction, Bonney most recently directed the critically acclaimed productions of Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) at The Public Theatre and American Repertory Theatre. Off-Broadway online casino credits include Small Engine Repair, Lost Girls, subUrbia, Fat Pig, References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, for which she was nominated for the Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel awards.
Paul Watson and Dan O’Brien, along with Institute for Living Psychiatrist-in-Chief Dr. Harold Schwartz will discuss wartime journalism and combat-related PTSD.on a panel at Hartford Stage on January 11.
For details: 860-527-5151 or www.hartfordstage.org
Tom Lenk from Buffy The Vampire Slayer headlines Buyer and Cellar at Hartford’s TheaterWorks.
Buyer and Cellar Brings Laughs to TheaterWorks
Jonathan Tolin’s very funny Off-Broadway hit, Buyer and Cellar, has been making people laugh at theatres across the country. Tom Lenk from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Broadway’s Rock of Ages stars in Jonathan Tolins’ one-man show, playing Hartford’s TheaterWorks from January 7 through February 14.
Tolins (a contributor to TheaterWorks recent laugh-riot Christmas on The Rocks), was inspired by Barbra Streisand’s My Passion for Design, her book about her memorabilia, tchochkes, and collectibles. So he created Alex (Tom Lenk), a gay unemployed actor who gets hired by Streisand to manage and maintain her collection. He interacts with Mr. and Mrs. James Brolin and other characters, in this funny play, which starred Michael Urie from Ugly Betty in New York. Lenk played the role in Buyer and Cellar last summer to rave reviews in Pittsburgh. Rob Ruggiero directs.
For details: 860.527.7838 or www.theaterworkshartford.org
The Atlantic Brass Quintet headlines the Longmeadow Chamber Music Society January concert.
The Atlantic Brass Quintet Highlights Longmeadow Chamber Music Society
You should know the name Thomas Bergeron by now. The South Hadley native, a world-class classical and jazz trumpeter is on demand in concert halls and clubs. He’s a member of The Atlantic Brass Quintet, and Longmeadow Chamber Music Society brings the ensemble to The First Church (on the Green) on January 8. Bergeron gets gets around. His jazz group has played North Hall in Huntington and The Bing in Springfield. He was soloist with the Springfield Symphony performing Haydn at Symphony Hall last November.
The Boston-based Atlantic Brass Quartet, celebrating its 30th anniversary, performs all over the world. The day before the Longmeadow concert, they’ll do a residency at Gateway Regional High School in Huntington.
“We”re also spending the morning of January 8th at Rotary Records, a fabulous new recording studio in West Springfield, to record some new music of ours and produce a new promotional video,” Bergeron said.”For the Longmeadow performance, we’re planning a program that showcases the wide range of talents within the group, as well as the depth and variety of what a brass ensemble can do. We”ll play some baroque arrangements (Handel and Bach), some romantic fare (Bruckner), a programatic and autobiographical new piece composed by ABQ member Andrew Sorg, arrangements of music by the great jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, and some funky dance music from the Balkan brass band tradition.”
The Westfield News Group is sponsoring the Longmeadow Chamber Music Society’s season. Tickets will be available at the door. For details on The Atlantic Brass Quintet. http://www.atlanticbrassquintet.com/ For details on Thomas Bergeron: For details on Longmeadow Chamber Music Society: http://www.longmeadowcms.org/
Of Note
Todd Rosenthal, the Tony Awardawinning designer who grew up in Longmeadow, will design the production of Nice Fish, the new American play premiering at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge on January 17-February 7. Nice Fish, conceived, written, and adapted by Tony Award-winner Mark Rylance and Louis Jenkins, and directed by Claire van Kampen, stars Rylance and Jenkins. For details: 617-547-8300 or www.americanrepertorytheater.org.
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
