Within The Goodwin’s neighborhood lie multiple outstanding outlets for live entertainment. Among them is one of the country’s great regional theaters: the Hartford Stage Company, a mere five-minute stroll from your front door at The Goodwin.
The Hartford Stage Company:
2017 marks the Hartford Stage’s 54th season: an impressive run that launched with an April 1964 production of Othello (directed by the company’s founder, Jacques Cartier), and which since has staged better than 70 national and world premieres. Those premieres have encompassed works by such notable playwrights as Edward Albee, Vladimir Nabokov, and Tennessee Williams.
The Hartford Stage also puts an admirable emphasis on education: More than 20,000 people every year explore the nuts-and-bolts of theater and the power of creativity, collaboration, and artistic expression through the company’s classes, workshops, in-school residencies, and other programs.
Savor A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Early Fall
The Hartford Stage—which earned a Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 1989—is, as usual, fulfilling the high standard it’s set for so many decades with its current offerings. You can still catch (through October 8) A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of better than 20 works by Shakespeare the company has presented over its history. The Hartford Stage’s artistic director Darko Tresnjak wears the director’s hat for Midsummer, among the Bard’s best-loved plays.
Family & History, Intertwined: Sarah Gancher’s Seder
Beginning October 19 and running through November 2, meanwhile, is the latest of the Hartford Stage’s world premieres: the drama Seder, written by Sarah Gancher and directed by Elizabeth Williamson. The play, centered around a family’s celebration of Passover Seder, meditates on the intersections of personal and national history in the context of Hungary’s tumultuous 20th century.
Ease Into the Yuletide Season With A Christmas Carol
Come late autumn, meanwhile, some classic holiday spirit will infuse the Hartford Stage with its annual presentation of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Ebenezer Scrooge once again reckon with his Scrooge-ness and the real meaning of Christmas (thanks to some helpful ghosts) from November 24 through December 30.
Consider making a night out of it in Connecticut’s capital by enjoying a theatrical production at the Hartford Stage—one of the enduring cultural fixtures of our city—during your stay at the Goodwin Hotel. A dinner at our Harlan Brasserie or pre-show cocktails at Side Barcan make the perfect double-header with the onstage entertainment!
