Dear Friends of Hartford Stage:

I’m still thinking about our conversation on Scene and Heard: LIVE! last week, and particularly of choreographer Annie-B Parsons comment about ​how we are learning to think more like dancers, to live with more awareness of our spatial relationships. Imagine, in seeing this photo of American Utopia, her latest collaboration with David Byrne, that the performers are in fact your colleagues, your neighbors, your friends. 

I’ve imagined people in my neighborhood as they walk carefully, slowly, zig zagging to avoid being on the same sidewalk, crossing streets more deliberately—always aware of who else is on the street.  Gone are the days (for now) of the rushing about paying no attention to where and how you are moving. This new alertness ​brings to mind Henry James' admonition, "try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost!” Perhaps one small gift of this time is the ability to pay more attention—to be someone on whom nothing is lost.

If you joined us last Wednesday you also ​met our artistic apprentices, Jasmine ​Gunter and Sally ​Lobel, and witnessed the communicating of ​craft through the generations. As though we were still a ​medieval ​guild, the work of the theatre encourages us to ​never stop learning and sharing knowledge.

We all ​continue to apprentice to each other, and ​to mentor each other, whether consciously or not. As the 14th century English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote ​near the end of his life, “the lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.”

This coming week we’ll celebrate the dedication to craft and mentorship of the theatre, and specifically Hartford Stage’s vibrant relationship with the faculty and students of The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. At this challenging time let’s rejoice in the knowledge that the art and craft of the theatre continues to be transmitted through generations.

See you Wednesday,

Melia

PS: Remember, this Wednesday, May 20th is Scene and Heard: LIVE!, our virtual happy hour via Zoom
at 5 pm EST.