HartBeat Ensemble to Perform 'Best of' the Last 5 Years of Free Plays in the Parks, 7/10-25

This summer, HartBeat Ensemble will celebrate the 5th anniversary season of its annual free Plays in the Parks with a rousing revival, "The Best Of..." its first four seasons. The family-friendly plays will tour through six outdoor venues in Hartford over the course of three July weekends, beginning on Saturday July 10th. Plays in the Parks is the signature event of HartBeat Ensemble's mission to provide original, affordable, and professional theater to the people of Greater Hartford. The series invites its audiences to lounge in the grass while taking in a different combination of short plays each weekend.

For the 5th Anniversary of Plays in the Parks, HartBeat Ensemble will bring back a variety of its original, interview-based plays and musicals. The performances include Hartford-centric plays based on the following themes: The economy hits home (2009); Connecticut's health care crisis (2008); people who are homeless in Connecticut (2007); and the working life struggles of Greater Hartford's everyday citizens (2006). Each of these plays, a success in its own right, features broad physical comedy, music and dancing and HartBeat Ensemble is thrilled to revisit these relevant issues in its entertaining and informative tradition. As always, the plays are based entirely on interviews with members of the Greater Hartford community.

Family activities will begin at 4:30 on each date, preceding the 5:00 performance. The schedule of shows and parks is as follows:

Saturday, July 10th: Elizabeth Park
Sunday, July 11th: Goodwin Park
Saturday, July 17th: Pope Park
Sunday, July 18th: Sigourney Square
Saturday, July 24th: Keney Park
Sunday, July 25th: The lawn of The Church of the Good Shepherd

The free, traveling production is the model for HartBeat Ensemble's other perennial success, EBENEEZA: A HARTFORD HOLIDAY CAROL. In December 2009, EBENEEZA ventured to four separate theaters and gained the largest audiences HartBeat has ever seen and elicited a storm of audience response and media attention. Plays in the Parks hopes to replicate this experience with its 5th Anniversary Season and cement HartBeat's already growing reputation as the best way to see professional theater in a multitude of neighborhoods.

In 2011, HartBeat Ensemble will celebrate its 10th Anniversary Season as a company, no doubt including an even more exciting round of Plays in the Parks.

Major program support for Plays in the Parks 2010 is provided by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, Greater Hartford Arts Council, the George A. & Grace L. Long Foundation, the Charles Nelson Robinson Fund, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, and the West End Civic Association.

Additional support provided by the Puffin Foundation and the Friends of Pope Park. HartBeat also thanks the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving for their support.

The mission of HartBeat Ensemble is to create original, professional theater based on stories from the people of our community. Through Mainstage plays, Open-Air performances, and Education programs, HartBeat Ensemble makes theater accessible beyond the barriers of class, race, and gender.

For more information please visit www.hartbeatensemble.org or call (860) 548-9144.

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