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An Opening in Time Christopher Shinn (17 Sept.-11 Oct.)
Rear Window adapted by Keith Reddin (22 Oct.-15 Nov.)
A Christmas Carol adapted by Michael Wilson (27 Nov.- 27 Dec.)
The Body of an American Dan O'Brien (7 Jan.-31 Jan.)
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare (11 Feb.-20 Mar.)
Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years Emily Mann (31 Mar.-24 Apr.)
Anastasia Terrence McNally (book), Stephen Flaherty (music), and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) (12 May-19 June)
The fifty-second season at Hartford Stage was an ambitious and successful one overall. It mixed a string of highly anticipated, large-scale productions such as Rear Window, Romeo and Juliet and the Broadway-bound musical Anastasia with a series of quieter, smaller plays.
The season had a strong start with An Opening in Time, a new play by Hartford area native son, Christopher Shinn. This lyrical play relates the challenges of returning home after decades away, restarting old relationships, and trying to move past long-ago sorrows and misunderstandings. Retired schoolteacher Anetta returns to the central Connecticut town she had worked in for many years. She reconnects with a man she had almost left her husband for decades earlier, and starts a tenuous friendship with the troubled teen-aged boy next door. In the program notes, Shinn expresses his desire to write a piece that speaks frankly about the difficulties of truly loving and notes how he drew inspiration from Shakespeare's A Winter 's Tale. Scenic designer Antje Ellerman impressively recreated the world of a Connecticut suburban neighborhood in all its conformity and charm.
Hartford Stage's second production, the world premiere of the stage adaptation of Rear Window, caused a great...