Connecticut Stage Company, a nonprofit theater production company based in New Canaan, is nearing the start of its second season.
L-R: Kate Simone Lorah Haskins.
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.
“The writers of ‘Hair’ coined it as the American tribal love rock musical,” Simone told the New Canaanite. “It was written in the ‘60s, and it really celebrates the counterculture of the 1960s in all of its glory. It’s about a tribe of hippies in New York, they’re all 18, and it’s about how they deal with staying true to themselves and what they believe in, in a very much changing world. One of them gets drafted in the Vietnam War, and it’s very much against his beliefs, so he has to decide what he wants to do about that. It’s still so relevant, because it’s still about being a young person in the ever changing world.”
CT Stage Co.’s production of “Little Women.” Credit: Lorah Haskins
“Hair” is being produced in partnership with the New Canaan Library, and will be held in its 300-seat Jim and Dede Bartlett Auditorium. Simone and Haskins have urged anyone who is interested to secure tickets as soon as possible, given how quickly they went last season.
“We feel it is so important to be a part of our community and to make theater accessible for everyone,” Haskins said. “So our tickets are actually a suggested $40 donation, which means if you are able to pay it out, we are so grateful for that. If you are somebody who is not able to pay that, you do not have to pay to get a ticket, but we are grateful for any amount that people are able to give. We just want to make sure that it’s accessible to everyone.”
Cast members of “Little Women” during a rehearsal. Credit: Lorah Haskins
“Hair” will feature some big stars—for example, the actor in the the lead role (Kevin Clay) is currently playing Elder Price, the lead in ‘The Book of Mormon’ on Broadway, Haskins said.
“He’s been playing that role for about four years, and he’s taking a week off of his show on Broadway to come do our show,” she said. “This is a do-not-miss situation for the community.”
In addition to Clay, the cast for CT Stage Co.’s upcoming season will feature several other Broadway stars, all professional actors in New York City.
“Several of them have some Broadway credits,” Simone said. “Any actor, but especially professional actors, just want to work. They want to do a show. So a brand new professional theater company pops up, they want to be there. So it wasn’t hard to get people to come out at all, there’s interest. At the end of the day, they are theater girls.”
Cast members of “Into the Woods” rehearse their performance. Credit: Lorah Haskins
Simone and Haskins said they’re amazed by the success of their production company thus far.
“So far, it has been a wonderfully overwhelming success,” Simone said. “We just wanted to put on a show with our fellow actors, a show that we wanted to do too, and the fact that it has evolved into where we are today, to be able to bring in pretty big Broadway stars, and having such an incredible and supportive response from the town has been more than we could have ever hoped for.”
The massive success of CT Stage Co’s inaugural season also caught the eye of some unexpected individuals.
“We also were completely shocked that our last production of ‘Little Women’ got some interest from some Broadway producers in the city,” Simone said. “So right now they’re looking to bring it into Off-Broadway. So that’s another avenue that we are unexpectedly going down.”
“Hair” will have two showings, Nov. 23 and Nov. 24.Tickets can be purchased from CT Stage Co’s website: https://www.connecticutstagecompany.org/hair. Due to the themes of the play, it is recommended for audiences ages 16 and older. Their next production,“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” will be held next year on April 5th and 6th, also in the library auditorium.