by Mark G. Auerbach
Octavio Solis
Hartford Stage announced today three plays for the upcoming 2019/2020 season, its first under the leadership of new Artistic Director Melia Bensussen, who co-planned the season with outgoing Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak. The three productions include: Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis, Cry it Out by Molly Smith Metzler and Jane Eyre, adapted and directed by Hartford Stage Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Williamson. Three additional mainstage productions will be announced in the coming weeks. Hartford Stage also announced that A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, the theatre’s holiday tradition, will return as a non-subscription offering.
The 2019/2020 season opens with Octavio Solis’s Quixote Nuevo, a reimagining of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes, directed by KJ Sanchez Quixote Nuevo is set in the fictional modern-day border town of La Plancha, Texas, where Don Quixote loses himself in stories of chivalrous escapades and embarks upon a quest of imagination, adventure, and Tejano music. Along the way he recruits a hapless but trusty sidekick in his search for lost love. As the community wrestles with containing Quixote’s fantasies, he, his family and friends discover the joys and perils of being the hero of your own story. Quixote Nuevo is produced in association with Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, and Alley Theatre in Houston..
Molly Smith Metzler. Photo by Carolyn Fong
New York playwright Molly Smith Metzler’s ode to modern-day motherhood, Cry it Out, peers into the lives of four new parents with nothing in common except sleep deprivation, unreliable childcare and the notion of “having it all.” The darkly funny comedy takes a smart and honest look at the power of female friendship, the dilemma of going back to work after being home with a newborn, and the effect social class has on parenthood in America. Hartford Stage Artistic Associate Rachel Alderman will direct. The playwright and screenwriter has written episodes of Casual (Hulu), Orange Is the New Black (Netflix), Codes of Conduct (HBO), and Shameless (Showtime).
Elizabeth Williamson
Hartford Stage Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Williamson will adapt and direct Charlotte Brontë’s classic Gothic love story Jane Eyre. Williamson previously directed William Shakespeare’s Henry V, Sarah Gancher’s Seder, and Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9 at Hartford Stage. She also translated and adapted La Dispute for the company.
The current season continues with the North American Premiere of the London comedy hit Jeeves and Wooster in “Perfect Nonsense”, the world premiere of The Flamingo Kid, a musical based on the film, and Hershey Felder as Irving Berlin.
For details: 860-527-5151 or www.hartfordstage.org.
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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. Mark produces and hosts ArtsBeat Radio for 89.5fm/WSKB.
