Hartford Stage Connections Program to Receive ILA Celebrate Literacy Award from Connecticut Reading Association    

Hartford, CT – May 17, 2017 – The Hartford Stage Education Department will receive the International Literacy Association (ILA) Celebrate Literacy Award from the Connecticut Reading Association in recognition of its acclaimed Connections program.

Hartford Stage will receive the award during the Connecticut Reading Association’s Annual Banquet on Thursday, May 25.

“Connections is one of our flagship educations programs, truly making an impact on students’ learning.  Each year we are in over 300 classrooms, reaching thousands of students,” Hartford Stage Managing Director Michael Stotts said. “I am proud of our education staff and teaching artists for receiving this well-deserved recognition and honor.”

The ILA Celebrate Literacy Award recognizes organizations, institutions and individuals that have made significant literary contributions at the local, state, or provincial level. The Connecticut Reading Association, a local affiliate of the International Literacy Association, empowers educators, inspires students, and encourages local communities to embrace literacy as an essential tool for lifelong success.

Hartford Stage was nominated for the honor by Lisa Flynn, who teaches 4^th grade at Union School in Farmington.

“The Connections program connects theatre and literacy in the classroom by providing the background knowledge that enables students to successfully read and comprehend the text on their own through drama and building excitement about reading,” Flynn said. “Students cannot wait to get their own copies of the book to start reading themselves!”

Connections is a five-day residency program designed to pique students’ interest in reading and literature. For five consecutive days, a Hartford Stage teaching artist visits an area classroom to lead drama based activities centered around a pre-selected book. Students explore the context, plot and characters of the book, building literary knowledge, creating suspense, and encouraging empathy. At the end of the program, each student receives a copy of the book to read and keep.

Since developing the program, Hartford Stage now offers curricula for over twenty books. Two recently developed curricula have extended the educational reach of the program by including age-appropriate financial concepts such as earning, saving and spending money, wants vs. needs, budgeting and the value of money and possessions.

To learn more about the Connections program at Hartford Stage, contact Robert Reader, Education Programs Manager, at 860-520-7263 or email education@hartfordstage.org.

HARTFORD STAGE

Now in our 53rd year, Hartford Stage is under the leadership of Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak and Managing Director Michael Stotts. One of the nation’s leading resident theatres, Hartford Stage is known for producing innovative revivals of classics and provocative new plays and musicals, including 73 world and American premieres, as well as offering a distinguished education program, which reaches more than 20,000 students annually.

Since Tresnjak’s appointment in 2011, the theatre has presented the world premieres of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder on Broadway, winner of four 2014 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical by Tresnjak; Rear Window with Kevin Bacon; the new musical Anastasia by Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens; and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Hartford Stage has earned many of the nation’s most prestigious awards, including the 1988 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Other national honors include Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, OBIE, and New York Critics Circle awards. Hartford Stage has produced nationally renowned titles, including the New York transfers of Enchanted April; The Orphans' Home Cycle; Resurrection (later retitled Through the Night); The Carpetbagger's Children; and Tea at Five.

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