HartBeat In the News

HartBeat Ensemble to Perform “Best of” the Last Five Years of Free Plays in the Parks

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 16:30:43 -0400

This summer, HartBeat Ensemble will celebrate the 5th anniversary season of its annual free Plays in the Parks with a rousing revival, "The Best Of..." its first four seasons. The family-friendly plays will tour through six outdoor venues in Hartford over the course of three July weekends, beginning on Saturday July 10th. Plays in the Parks is the signature event of HartBeat Ensemble’s mission to provide original, affordable, and professional theater to the people of Greater Hartford. The series invites its audiences to lounge in the grass while taking in a different combination of short plays each weekend.

For the 5th Anniversary of Plays in the Parks, HartBeat Ensemble will bring back a variety of its original, interview-based plays and musicals. The performances include Hartford-centric plays based on the following themes: The economy hits home (2009); Connecticut's health care crisis (2008); people who are homeless in Connecticut (2007); and the working life struggles of Greater Hartford’s everyday citizens (2006). Each of these plays, a success in its own right, features broad physical comedy, music and dancing and HartBeat Ensemble is thrilled to revisit these relevant issues in its entertaining and informative tradition. As always, the plays are based entirely on interviews with members of the Greater Hartford community.

Family activities will begin at 4:30 on each date, preceding the 5:00 performance. The schedule of shows and parks is as follows:

• Saturday, July 10th: Elizabeth Park

• Sunday, July 11th: Goodwin Park

• Saturday, July 17th: Pope Park

• Sunday, July 18th: Sigourney Square

• Saturday, July 24th: Keney Park

• Sunday, July 25th: The lawn of The Church of the Good Shepherd

The free, traveling production is the model for HartBeat Ensemble’s other perennial success, Ebeneeza: A Hartford Holiday Carol. In December 2009, Ebeneeza ventured to four separate theaters and gained the largest audiences HartBeat has ever seen and elicited a storm of audience response and media attention. Plays in the Parks hopes to replicate this experience with its 5th Anniversary Season and cement HartBeat’s already growing reputation as the best way to see professional theater in a multitude of neighborhoods.

In 2011, HartBeat Ensemble will celebrate its 10th Anniversary Season as a company, no doubt including an even more exciting round of Plays in the Parks.

Major program support for Plays in the Parks 2010 is provided by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Greater Hartford Arts Council, the George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation, the Charles Nelson Robinson Fund, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, and the West End Civic Association.

Additional support provided by the Puffin Foundation and the Friends of Pope Park. HartBeat also thanks the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving for their support.

The mission of HartBeat Ensemble is to create original, professional theater based on stories from the people of our community. Through Mainstage plays, Open-Air performances, and Education programs, HartBeat Ensemble makes theater accessible beyond the barriers of class, race, and gender.

For more information please call (860) 548-9144.

FLIPSIDE

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:30:09 -0400

HartBeat Ensemble, Hartford’s local professional theater ensemble, will perform a workshop version of their newest original work, FlipSide on April 30th, May 1st, 7th, and 8th at 7:30pm at the Manchester Community College Auditorium (MCC). The work is the culmination of hundreds of hours of interviews with the community about the War on Drugs. HartBeat Ensemble will use audience feedback and talk-back discussions to finalize the production for its official premier next year.

Using rhythmic choreography and spoken word poetry from local poets MIRA and MIND EVOLUTION, FlipSide tells the story of two drug warriors on opposite sides of the drug war. FlipSide is a story that uses spoken word, addicting rhythm sticks and
potent characters to portray the war on drugs. To write the play, HartBeat conducted a huge range of interviews and says, “we are excited to present a well-rounded, deeply thought play that will help us all examine this all-to-familiar topic in a new way. We invite the audience to be the final contributors to our new work.”

FlipSide is being work-shopped as part of HartBeat’s New Play Institute in collaboration with Manchester Community College. While conducting the Institute, HartBeat works for a period “in residence” while also teaching MCC theater students to create their own original work on the same topic. The final outcome of the partnership is the debut of a new play in development. The New Play Institute fosters an environment of experimentation and creativity for both the Ensemble and MCC students and offers audiences the chance to experience new theatrical work in its early stages. Admission is $5 general admission and free for students with student identification. Each performance will be followed by a discussion of the play.

During the research phase of this project, HartBeat worked with Dr. Robert Painter of the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy to accumulate empirical information on the topic of drug policy. During this time HartBeat also conducted interviews with many people who have themselves been involved in some way with the underground drug economy. HartBeat interviewed ex-offenders, ex-addicts, health workers, law enforcement, drug counselors, and policy makers. This interview process aimed to create performances that were complex and true to real life.

The performance will be held at the Manchester Community College Auditorium (Great Path, Manchester, CT) at 7:30 on April 30th, May 1st, May 7th, and May 8th.

Reservations can be made by emailing julia.pistell@hartbeatensemble.org.

HartBeat presents Universes

Fri, 2 Apr 2010 20:00:02 -0400

HartBeat Ensemble will present “Live From the Edge,” an evening filled with “the best of” performances from visiting ensemble Universes, a band of poets from New York who have created their own brand of fusion theatre. Performances will take place Friday, April 2nd and Saturday, April 3rd at 8 p.m. Advance tickets and further information are available by calling (860) 548-9144, x115. Tickets are $15 but thanks to support from the City of Hartford’s Office of Cultural Affairs, they are $10 for Hartford residents.

Universes members Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz, Gamal Abdel Chasten, and “Ninja” utilize each person’s unique realms of performance and life experience. They draw from Jazz, Spanish Boleros, Gospel, the Blues, Hip-Hop, and more to create an exuberant, insightful, and eloquent evening’s entertainment. Universes tours world-wide; in the past year alone they have been to eleven cities in the United States as well as the Encuentros Festival in Columbia; they are currently traveling to New Or

leans, before heading to the Northeast. “Live From the Edge” will give Connecticut residents an overview of Universes’ distinct performance style, as it contains elements of their entire body of work. Their stage work is accessible to people from all backgrounds and ages.

HartBeat Ensemble is thrilled to present Universes to Greater Hartford and is able to do so as part of a unique touring circuit being pioneered specifically for ensemble theater presenters and funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. The circuit also includes partner ensembles: Sandglass Theater of Putney, Vermont, and Touchstone Theater of Bethlehem, PA.. The performances by Universes mark the second installment in HartBeat Ensemble’s “presenting” series, which premiered with last year’s smash success appearance by Robert Karimi and DJ D Double.

HartBeat Ensemble Presenta al grupo Universes en “Live From the Edge”

Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:34:56 -0400

HartBeat Ensemble el reconocido grupo teatral de Hartford, presentará el programa “Live From the Edge,” una noche en la que los miembros del conjunto Universes de Nueva York, harán resaltar su talento en un programa que incluye poesía, Hip Hop, boleros y otras expresiones artisticas. En lo que el periodico Boston Globe ha llamado
"Una explosión de poesía y percusión. Es una exploración multicultural que requiere ser vista.”
     El programa cuenta con el apoyo de la Oficina de Asuntos Culturales de la Ciudad de Hartford lo que permitira a los residentes de esta ciudad a que obtengan boletos a un precio reducido.
            Según la información que nos diera Julia Pistell de HartBeat, los miembros del conjunto Universes son: Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz, Gamal Abdel Chasten, y“Ninja” los que mezclan anécdotas personales con varios tipos de música como el jazz, los boleros, música evangélica, y el hip-hop para crear una noche de un entretenimiento único e inolvidable.
            A pesar de que el grupo tiene muy poco tiempo de haber sido fundado, ya han logrado viajar a varias ciudades en USA y fueron invitados a participar en el Festival de Encuentros en Colombia. Antes de su presentacion en Hartford, Universes estara presentandose en Nueva Orleáns. “Live From the Edge” es un programa que puede ser disfrutado por todas las edades.
            La critica a nivel nacional ha estado elogiando a este conjunto que consideran
como "Stomp para la laringe" segun Los Angeles Times; "Exuberante, inteligente... una obra del corazón y del alma que destile la esencia de la ciudad.” escribio el New York Times y otros periodicos importantes como LA Times.
Con esta presentacion, HartBeat Ensemble continua brindando al publico de Hartford un programa en el que esperan traer otros grupos teatrales haciendo giras en esta region, gracias a un programa auspiciado por Donaciones Nacionales Para Las Artes. Otros grupos que esperan presentar son: Sandglass Theater de Putney, Vermont, y Touchstone Theater de Bethlehem, PA. Esta programación organizada por HartBeat se inicio el ano pasado con presentaciones de Robert Karimi y DJ Double.
            El programa Live from the Edge, se presentara el Viernes 2 de Abril y Sabado 3 a las 8:00 pm. en el Charter Oak Cultural Center en Hartford.
Los boletos cuestan $15.00 para el publico en general, y $10.00 para residentes de Hartford. Para mayor información o para obtener boletos llamen al (860) 548-9144, x115.

Ebeneeza, A Hartford Holiday Carol

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 19:30:14 -0500

This December, HartBeat Ensemble will revive its highly popular Mainstage production of Ebeneeza: A Hartford Holiday Carol and perform the play in four separate locations around Greater Hartford. The production, originally written in 2006 and updated this year to address timely political and economic issues, will be performed for the public at Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts, The Mark Twain House & Museum, The West Indian Social Club, and West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park. Each weekend in December, residents of the Hartford area will be able to see a Scrooge story for today in their own neighborhoods. Each of the Hartford performances will be free, and HartBeat will charge a family-friendly ticket price for the Playhouse on Park closing weekend.
Ebeneeza is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, set in modern-day Hartford. Audiences will follow the story of the elderly woman Ebeneeza. The miser is, of course, visited by three ghosts, including Hartford’s favorite “Ghost of Holidays Past,” Mark Twain. In keeping with HartBeat tradition, the words and concepts of Ebeneeza come from interviews with citizens of the Greater Hartford community. Ebeneeza: A Hartford Holiday Carol explores issues of class, race, and development while simultaneously reflecting Dickens’ themes of generosity and self-reflection. The production takes us from Ebeneeza’s childhood home on Front Street during the Depression, through the civil upheavals of the 60’s in the North End of Hartford and into the Greater Hartford suburbs of the 80’s. This year, Ebeneeza will literally move throughout the city, traveling through each neighborhood in order to connect with more communities. These traveling productions of Ebeneeza: A Hartford Holiday Carol reflect the ensemble’s mission to bring original, affordable theater to Hartford’s neighborhoods. The play has been updated to reflect current concerns, including "Obamacare," the emersion of the "Tea Party Patriots," the effects of the bailout, and developments in the foreclosure crisis.
The production also celebrates the diversity of residents and holidays in Hartford. To quote Marlene, Ebeneeza’s West Indian Home Care assistant (the “Bob Crachit” of HartBeat’s adaptation), this is “the most special of all the holiday seasons I’ve ever known. Everything all bunched up together. There’s power in the air. Can’t you feel it? Something special going to happen this weekend. Christmas Eve, last night of Hanukkah and the Winter Solstice. Tomorrow we say Merry Christmas! And Kwanzaa starts on Sunday!”
Kinsella Magnet School of Performing Arts will host Ebeneeza on Friday, December 4th and Saturday, December 5th at 7:30 PM. The Mark Twain House & Museum will host the production on Friday, December 11th at 7:30 PM, Saturday, December 12th at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, December 13th at 2:00 PM. The West Indian Social Club will host Ebeneeza on Friday, December 18th and Saturday, December 19th at 7:30 PM. All of the aforementioned performances will be free to the public. The final weekend, performed at Playhouse on Park, will be Saturday, December 26th at 7:30 PM and Sunday, December 27th at 2:00 PM. Tickets will be moderately priced to encourage family attendance.
Ebeneeza is written by the HartBeat Ensemble and directed by Brian Jennings. This production is made possible by the City of Hartford Arts & Heritage Jobs Grant Program, Eddie A. Perez, Mayor; and supported by The Greater Hartford Arts Council’s United Arts Campaign, The Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation, The Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and The Ensworth Memorial Trust, Bank of America, Trustee.