Hartford Stage is an American

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of ...

non-profit regional theatre company located on Church Street in downtown

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

. Since its founding in 1963, Hartford Stage has won the

Regional Theatre Tony Award The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special recognition Tony Award given annually to a regional theater company in the United States. The winner is recommended by a committee of drama critics. Background Initially presented in 1948 to Robert ...

(1989) and many

Connecticut Critics Circle The Connecticut Critics Circle is an organization of reviewers, feature writers, columnists, and broadcasters throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. It was founded in 1990 Mission statement "To honor the actors, direct ...

and other awards.

History

Founded in 1963 by Jacques Cartier, the company performed in a former supermarket until it moved to its current home at the 489-seat John W. Huntington Theatre, designed by

Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...

, in 1968. Jacques Cartier (1963–1968), Paul Weidner (1968–1980), Mark Lamos (1981–1998), Michael Wilson (1998–2011),

Darko Tresnjak Darko Tresnjak ( sr-cyr, Дарко Трешњак, Darko Trešnjak) is a director of plays, musicals, and opera, and winner of several awards, including the Tony Award. He was the artistic director of the Hartford Stage in Connecticut, United S ...

(2011–2019), and

Melia Bensussen Melia Bensussen (born September 18, 1962) is an American theatre director and producer who has been artistic director of the Hartford Stage since 2019. She won an OBIE Award for Outstanding Direction for '' Turn of the Screw'' in 1999 and is ...

(2019–present) have served as the Stage's artistic directors. Hartford Stage has produced over 80 world and North American premieres, including the new musical ''

Anastasia Anastasia (from el, Ἀναστασία, translit=Anastasía) is a feminine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek word (), meaning " resurrection". It is a popular name in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia, where it was the mo ...

'', which enjoyed a two-year run on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

; '' A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,'' winner of four 2014

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical; and '' Water by the Spoonful,'' winner of the 2012

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

starred in the Stage's adaptation of ''

Rear Window ''Rear Window'' is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder". Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film st ...

''. Hartford Stage gained national recognition under Lamos, who shook up the theatre's traditional repertoire with bolder contemporary dramas and spectacular productions of Shakespeare and classics such as ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five- act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen published in 1876. Written in Norwegian, it is one of the most widely performed Norwegian plays. Ibsen believed '' Per Gynt'', the Norwegian fairy tale on ...

'' and ''The Greeks'', a cycle of ancient Greek dramas. Productions that ended up on Broadway included '' Marvin's Room'', ''

Our Country's Good ''Our Country's Good'' is a 1988 play written by British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel ''The Playmaker''. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales ...

'', ''

Tiny Alice ''Tiny Alice'' is a three-act play written by Edward Albee that premiered on Broadway at the Billy Rose Theatre in 1964. Synopsis Powerful widow Miss Alice and her lawyer offer a generous grant to the church on the condition that the cardinal's ...

'', ''

Tea at Five ''Tea at Five'' is a 2002 one-woman play, written by Matthew Lombardo, which tells the story of Katharine Hepburn in a monologue. It is based on Hepburn's book ''Me: Stories of My Life''. The play starred Kate Mulgrew, and was apparently written ...

'', '' The Carpetbagger's Children'', and '' Enchanted April''. Under artistic director Wilson, the Stage reemphasized modern American classics from

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...

and

Amiri Baraka Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous bo ...

. Tresnjak deepened the Stage's commitment to Shakespeare and new American theatre and successfully launched musical theatre as a new programming priority. Bensussen was hired to enhance the Stage's community engagement and education initiatives and diversify its repertoire.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartford Stage Performing groups established in 1963 Regional theatre in the United States Theatre companies in Connecticut Theatres in Connecticut Tony Award winners Buildings and structures in Hartford, Connecticut Buildings and structures in Hartford County, Connecticut 1963 establishments in Connecticut Hartford, Connecticut Theatres completed in 1968 Culture of Hartford, Connecticut