The Summer Theatre of New Canaan returns for the 2024 season with “Mary Poppins” (tickets here). The show will run July 12 to 28.
We caught up with the nonprofit organization’s artistic director, Melody Meitrott Libonati, and its executive director, Ed Libonati (they’re married) about the headline show and full upcoming season, including STONC’s popular educational programs such as the Junior Company and DramaRamas Performance Program for kids with special needs.
Here’s our exchange.
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New Canaanite: For our readers who are not yet familiar, could you just—before we get into the specifics of this summer’s activities—give a very brief background on Summer Theatre, please?
L-R: Camilo Escamilla, Avery Jackson and Cate Panagossi are in “Mary Poppins.” Credit: Suzannah Gold
Ed Libonati: This is our 21st professional season based here in New Canaan. We started in 2004 and have been presenting musicals and plays in the summer for New Canaan and surrounding communities. And it has grown each year. Now we’ve outgrown our tent and we’ve moved into New Canaan High School, which we retrofit to accommodate a professional production. We bring in a new sound system. We supplement a lot of the lights. We work on the backstage needs and facilities, et cetera, to upgrade it, in a sense, for while we’re there. And it’s proven to be a very successful experience, positive experience for everyone, audiences and staff and cast alike.
Melody Libonati: We also have a very strong education program where we bring in between 20 and 25 college interns who are studying different aspects of the theater. And they work with us, they work with our professionals, and have a great educational experience while they’re here working on our show. And we have a Junior Company that’s 5th through 8th grade, and they do their own production. And our interns help them with their production, also. And then we have a high school program, and that’s a training program where we bring in professionals to do workshops for them to gain education in the arts. And then finally we have our special needs, our Dramarama program, which has really grown and this is where the special needs students get to be front and center and be the leads in the show and have their own production. So all those education programs have been a really big part of our theater, as well as bringing in professional artists in order to to be one big family, actually, for the summer. It really does feel that way, it’s a big family experience for everyone to work together.
Stephen Petrovich (Bert). Credit: Suzannah Gold
Ed Libonati: And it’s all part of the cultural umbrella of what the performing arts can bring. And throughout the 20 years we’ve partnered with many other organizations—whether they be dance, orchestral, musical—and brought their programs into our season as well to give a diverse offering to our audiences and patrons.
What went into your decision to put on Mary Poppins this summer?
Melody Libonati: So last year we did ‘Beauty and the Beast.’ It was our first time back at New Canaan High School. Our third season actually was at New Canaan High School when we did a huge production of ‘Peter Pan.’ So now coming back, we have a larger stage. We have a larger audience capacity and doing ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was so successful and so wonderful. And we’re a family community, so we love to bring shows that are family oriented. And again, since ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is so successful, Mary Poppins was next in line. We flew the enchantress in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and we will fly ‘Mary Poppins.’ And the last time when we were at New Canaan High School, we were flying Peter Pan and Wendy, Michael, and John. When we have the opportunity to fly, we like to do that. And ‘Mary Poppins’ is just a magical, wonderful story. I do encourage people to read the book, P. L. Travers wrote a very specific character of Mary Poppins and about the magic that she has and how she does come into the Banks family lives and helps them to grow and grow together. It’s different from the movie. It’s different from this version of the Broadway show. The Broadway show, the playwright is Julian Fellowes who did ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘The Gilded Age.’ So it’s gotten out of P. L. Traver’s hands a bit, and that’s why I recommend reading the book, too, because an author is really important to the story.
L-R: Janelle Robinson, Emily Grace Tucker, Stephen Petrovich and Jazmin Gorsline. (photos supplied)
Ed Libonati: One of the things that helps us in making a decision on what type of theater shows to select is going through a certain filter of multi-generational. What shows do we feel will attract seniors, adults, families, young families and children? Again, not very young children, but children, because in the past we’ve had a theater for young audience program that’s designed specifically for young families.But this is a show that bridges all age gaps, and proved to be extremely successful in that. That’s why it ran for so many years on Broadway.
New Canaanite: You referenced the Theatre for Young Audiences. What is that production going to be this summer?
Ed Libonati: We’re going to be bringing back a show that was very successful for a limited run: ‘Robin Hood.’ And it’s a play that we’ll be bringing to the high school after we complete ‘Mary Poppins.’ And what’s unique about this show is it’s two actors who play 22 roles and it’s quite remarkable. We toured it to schools all throughout Connecticut several years ago, and it was extremely successful—all pre-pandemic, of course. And now we’re just getting back into our touring strategy again to bring shows to schools around Connecticut. Most of our shows have toured to New Canaan schools, mostly elementary schools. And the Theatre for Young Audiences is a critical component. Last year we didn’t have a Theatre for Young Audiences show for the first time because we moved into the high school and our schedule just didn’t have a slot for it here. We’ve now expanded our season a little bit to bring it back and we’re going to start presenting these Theatre for Young Audiences shows possibly year round. It’s a bit of an experiment and we’ll let you know how it goes.
When do tickets go on sale for Mary Poppins?
Ed Libonati: The box office opens May 29th. It’s a Wednesday. For ticket sales, and it’ll be online or phone in, et cetera. And then the shows are July 12th through the 28th at the high, at the New Canaan High School Theater. Shows are Friday night and Saturday night at 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.