Hartford Stage

Hartford, CT, March 31, 2017 – Hartford Stage will host a free panel discussion on bullying and depression in teenagers immediately following the 7:30 p.m. performance of James Lecesne’s The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey on Tuesday, April 11.

Finding Absolute Brightness: How Today’s Youth Can Battle Bullying and Depression will highlight signs of depression, isolation, and bullying in adolescents and how family, friends and the community might spot risk factors before teens make negative, and sometimes irreversible, choices. Laura Saunders, Psy.D. ABPP, a staff psychologist for Young Adult Services at the Institute of Living/Hartford Hospital and Clinical Coordinator of The Right Track/LGBTQ Intensive Outpatient program, will moderate the discussion.

Panelists include Lori Davison, M.A., President of PFLAG Hartford; Marisa Giarnella-Porco, LCSW, Co-Founder and President of the Jordan Porco Foundation in Hartford; and Jonathan Miller, 19, Founder and CEO of SaveOne, an anti-bullying organization in Greater Hartford County. One additional young adult, to be named shortly, will be included on the panel. James Lecesne will join the panel after the discussion for an audience Q & A.

The focus of the panel discussion mirrors the themes presented in The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, which centers upon the disappearance of a flamboyant 14-year-old who has been bullied by his peers.

The panel discussion (approximately 9 p.m.) is free to the public. To purchase tickets to the 7:30 p.m. performance of The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, call the Hartford Stage box office at (860) 527-5151 or visit www.hartfordstage.org. Tickets start at $25; student tickets are $20.

For more information regarding the panel discussion, please call 860-520-7114 or email tmacnaughton@hartfordstage.org.

Laura Saunders

Lori Davison

Marisa Giarnella-Porco

Jonathan Miller

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 close to 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; Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Water by the Spoonful, winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Breath & Imagination by Daniel Beaty; Big Dance Theatre’s Man in a Case with Mikhail Baryshnikov; and Reverberation by Matthew Lopez.

Hartford Stage has earned many of the nation’s most prestigious awards, including the 1989 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.

The leading provider of theatre education programs in Connecticut, Hartford Stage’s offerings include student matinees, in-school theatre residencies, teen performance opportunities, theatre classes for students (ages 3-18) and adults, afterschool programs and professional development courses.

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**Hartford Stage to Host Free Panel Discussion on Bullying and Depression Following Performance of The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey on April 11**

Panel will be moderated by The Institute of Living’s Dr. Laura Saunders