HartBeat Ensemble Presents Connecticut Premiere Of Kyle Bass Drama POSSESSING HARRIET

HartBeat Ensemble has announced the company's upcoming Connecticut Premiere of Kyle Bass' compelling drama Possessing Harriet. The production, directed by Vernice Miller (Bee Trapped Inside the Window), runs October 6 through 15 at the Carriage House Theatre, 360 Farmington Avenue in Hartford, CT.

 

Possessing Harriet features an all-Equity cast of faces familiar to the Hartford region including Vanessa R. Butler (Harford Stage's Queen for a Day, HartBeat Ensemble's Jimmy & Lorraine), Robert H. Davis (Hartford Stage's A Christmas Carol and To Kill a Mockingbird), Olivia Nicole Hoffman (Hallmark TV's Aloha Heart, viral TikTok creator of Theme Park Intro videos), and Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. (HartBeat's My Children! My Africa!; Hartford Stage's It's a Wonderful Life - A Live Radio Play). Costumes are designed by Soule Golden with lighting and scenic design by Jon-Paul LaRocco.

 

Kyle Bass' Possessing Harriet tells the true story of Harriet Powell, a young mixed-race, enslaved woman who escapes her owners at a hotel in Syracuse, New York. Formerly enslaved Underground Railroad conductor Thomas Leonard brings her to the home of impassioned abolitionist Gerrit Smith, who is hosting his young cousin Elizabeth Cady, a women's rights advocate. In the 90 minutes before her nighttime escape to Canada, Harriet confronts new ideas about race, gender and equality as she answers the tragic question: What will she give up for freedom?

 

Possessing Harriet runs October 6 through 15 with performances on Friday at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm and 8pm; Sundays at 2pm. Masks will be required for the Saturday, October 7 at 2pm matinee and Friday, October 13 at 8pm performance. Tickets are $25; $20 for students and seniors. No one is turned away for lack of funds. Tickets can be purchased by visiting HartBeatEnsemble.org.

 

Possessing Harriet is part of Greater Hartford Arts Council's Theater Week, a celebration of theatre in Greater Hartford that includes performances and events at HartBeat Ensemble, Hartford Stage, The Bushnell, Playhouse on Park, Little Theatre of Manchester, and TheaterWorks Hartford. For more information, visit letsgoarts.org/theater-week.

 

 

HartBeat Ensemble has planned several special events exploring and amplifying the themes of Possessing Harriet.

 

Monday, October 2 at 6:30pm

Salons at Stowe: Abolition & Suffrage During Harriet Beecher Stowe's Lifetime

at Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, 65 Forest Street, Hartford. Free.

 

Saturday, October 7 at 5:30pm

Possessing Harriet Playwright Kyle Bass in Conversation

at The Mark Twain House & Museum, 351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford. Tickets: $5.

 

Wednesday, October 11 from 5pm to 7pm

ENCOUNTERS: What would you give up to be free? Interactive conversations about freedom and sacrifice inspired by Possessing Harriet

at Carriage House Theatre, 360 Farmington Avenue, Hartford. Free.

 

Friday, October 13 at 6pm 

Opening Reception with Hartford Fiber Artist Edjohnetta Miller and Other Artists

Lobby of Carriage House Theatre. Included with ticket for the Friday, October 13 performance of Possessing Harriet.

 

Saturday, October 14 at 11am

Family Day Workshops with Optional Lunch

Carriage House Theatre. Free with attendance encouraged for the 2pm matinee performance (ticket not included).

 

For more information on the Reflecting on Harriet special events and RSVP instructions, visit HartBeatEnsemble.org.

 

Possessing Harriet and its related events are supported in part by The Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation, the Greater Hartford Council for the Arts and CT Humanities. Additional support provided by the J. Bissell Foundation, CT Humanities, CT Office of the Arts, Department of Economic and Community Development, National Endowment for the Arts and Travelers.

 

HartBeat Ensemble creates provocative theater that connects the people and communities of Greater Hartford across traditional barriers of race, gender, class and geography. HartBeat Ensemble is one of the few arts institutions in Greater Hartford using theater and storytelling to build the Beloved Community. As an ensemble of Citizen Artists, we create and present innovative theatrical experiences based on critical civic issues that directly affect our constituents in their neighborhoods, their jobs, their schools and their institutions. HartBeat not only offers audiences the opportunity to witness world-class theater, but through storytelling and facilitation we engage them in telling their own stories in a variety of settings. At the same time, HartBeat is preparing the next generation of Citizen Artists and Civic Leaders through our Youth Play Institute. To learn more, please visit HartBeatEnsemble.org.

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