Around Town

New Canaan’s CT Stage Company Opens Season with ‘Hair’

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Connecticut Stage Company, a nonprofit theater production company based in New Canaan, is nearing the start of its second season. Founded by Kate Simone and Lorah Haskins, it didn’t take long for the experienced duo to see success. Their inaugural season, which began in October of 2023, featured productions of “Into the Woods,” and “Little Women,” with both selling out weeks before each show. Simone and Haskins said they hope to keep that momentum going with their next production, “Hair,” showing Nov. 23 and 24.

Around Town

Meet Luke ‘The Flying Fratt’ Frattaroli, New Canaan’s ‘Ninja Warrior’

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It’s not every day you see a New Canaan kid place fifth in a world championship, and even rarer when the contest in question is the Invitational World Finals for the World Ninja League. Yet that’s the case for Luke “The Flying Fratt” Frattaroli, a 14-year-old athlete who has dedicated the last four years of his life to a sport few have heard of. Based on the highly popular “American Ninja Warrior” TV show, Ninja is a form of obstacle course racing which sees athletes compete for the best time as they tackle a series of increasingly difficult obstacles, ranging from a series of steps which the athlete must jump across, to the infamous “bar hop.”
“We couldn’t find a sport that I really liked, that I really wanted to make a big commitment to,” Frattaroli, a Saxe Middle School eighth-grader, told the New Canaanite. “I never knew you could actually do it as a sport until a couple years ago when I found out this gym in Stamford had open classes, so I tried one out and I really liked it.”
Stamford Ninja Academy, Frattaroli’s main gym, is one of an increasing number of “ninja gyms” which provide practice courses and coaching to those interested in the emerging sport. Several coaches at SNA have also competed on “American Ninja Warrior.”

“You don’t really know it’s real,” Frattaroli said.

Business

‘I Love This Community’: Dashing Diva Beauty Launches on Cherry Street

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One of New Canaan’s hottest salons has a new owner. Gianna Parente has been with the salon formerly known as “Divaz,” now Dashing Diva Beauty, since she was 17. Taking over the business’s lease in August, after the previous owner decided not to renew, the native New Yorker formed a connection to New Canaan through her years of working here. “Truthfully, I feel like I grew up here,” Parente told the New Canaanite. “I’ve been here since I was very young, and when my boss was not going to re-sign, I kind of was like, oh my god, I can’t see us all not being together, I can’t see our clients leaving.

Around Town

‘How Am I Going To Do This’: Local Man, 30, Seeks Kidney After Five Years of Dialysis

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Miles Casas, a 30-year-old man from New Canaan, has been battling kidney failure for the past five years. Diagnosed with Membranoproliferative Glomerulonephritis; a rare autoimmune disease, at the age of 12, Casas’ condition would only worsen with age. 

”It’s extremely rare, it typically happens in children,” Casas, who attended St. Aloysius School, told the New Canaanite. “A mutation happens in the DNA for unknown reasons, maybe caused by stress or an illness. It could be for various reasons, but basically it’s unknown and there’s not really a cure for it.”

As a result of this condition, Casas lost function in both kidneys in 2019, requiring him to undergo nine hours of dialysis every night in order to survive.

Around Town

‘It’s Really Taken Off’: A Terrifying Fundraiser on Buttery Road

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Though many local homeowners opt to forgo Halloween decorations this time of year, for Dr. Dani Cohen and her family, it is a spectacle months in the making. What began with a 12-foot-tall skeleton in their front yard four years ago has slowly grown into an intricate display, featuring lights, sound effects and even motion-activated animatronics. And this year, Cohen has partnered with St. Jude Children’s Hospital and their Skeleton’s for Hope program, a fundraiser which provides avid Halloween decorators an opportunity to turn their displays into something more. “We have a QR code out in the front of the house for families who come by, they can enjoy and have a much larger global impact for those who are in need of it,” Cohen told the New Canaanite.