CIRCUS FIRE World Premiere Extends at TheaterWorks Hartford

TheaterWorks Hartford will present a 12-performance extension of its World Premiere production of CIRCUS FIRE, now scheduled to run through May 31, 2026.

The extension includes additional Sunday evening performances on April 26, May 3, May 10, and May 17, as well as a special Sunday matinee on May 24. The production will also continue for an added week, with performances running from Wednesday, May 27 through Sunday, May 31. Circus Fire is written by Connecticut-based playwright Jacques Lamarre (TWH’s Christmas on the Rocks, I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti), multimedia experience and direction by Jared Mezzocchi (TWH’s Sandra), and is conceived by Lamarre, Mezzocchi, and TWH’s Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero. The show will be performed at the historic First Company Governor’s Foot Guard in Downtown Hartford.

In July of 1944, with the nation at war and a heat wave settling over the city, the residents of Hartford, Connecticut eagerly await the arrival of “The Greatest Show on Earth.” The unthinkable occurs when a fire turns the big top into an inferno. In the minutes, hours and days following the blaze, two communities – Hartford and the Circus – find themselves irretrievably intertwined by tragedy, blame, heroism, and healing. This multimedia World Premiere honors the power of community in TheaterWorks Hartford’s 40th Season.

The cast of Circus Fire includes 10 Connecticut-based actors - Olivia Nicole Hoffman, Caroline Kinsloving, Janelle Anne Robinson, Mike Boland, Constantino Fernandez, Stuart Rider, Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr., Marco Verna, Rebecka Jones, and Dan Whelton - and two students from the Hartt School of the Performing Arts - Anastasia Maglaras and Eric Orsini.