Hartford Stage Adds Athol Fugard’s 
A Lesson from Aloes to Season

Replaces Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act

Hartford, CT – February 7, 2018 – Darko Tresnjak, Artistic Director, and Michael Stotts, Managing Director, announced today that Athol Fugard’s A Lesson from Aloes, an important work which speaks to the current social and political discord surrounding the issues of nationalism and immigration, will replace Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act as the final play of the 2017-18 season. Tresnjak will direct.

“In his immensely powerful and lyrical plays, Athol Fugard captures how changing political landscapes strain marriages, friendships, and communities,” Tresnjak said. “A Lesson from Aloes is one of the great plays of the last century.”

Set in 1963, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, A Lesson from Aloes is a compelling portrait of three individuals caught in the midst of the nation’s racial divide and the choices each one is forced to make. The New York Post called A Lesson from Aloes “immensely moving.” The New York Times wrote, "Exile, madness, utter loneliness – these are the only alternatives Mr. Fugard's characters have. What makes Aloes so moving is the playwright's insistence on the heroism and integrity of these harsh choices."

A Lesson from Aloes will be performed during the same May 17 to June 10 schedule originally assigned to Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act. The official opening date will be Friday, May 25.

Subscribers will use their same tickets, originally issued for Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act, for A Lesson from Aloes. Single-ticket buyers have several options, including exchanging their tickets for any upcoming shows. For additional information, contact the Hartford Stage box office at 860-527-5151 or visit www.hartfordstage.org.

HARTFORD STAGE

Now in our 54th season, 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 21,000 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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