Review: THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION at New Canaan Town Players

For almost 80 years, the New Canaan Town Players have taken community theater to new heights, and this season’s closing show, The Shawshank Redemption, is one of the most powerful plays you will ever see. Even if you saw the movie, don’t miss this play. Nothing is more impactful than seeing superb performances of a well-written play in an intimate setting as the Powerhouse Theatre in Waveny Park.

Adapted for the stage by Dave Johns and Owen O’Neill, The Shawshank Redemption tells a story about convicts and how they see their sad and difficult lives, their past mistakes, and how they see their future, and how they can cope with it. The production’s strength is not just in telling the story, but in making the audience see up close how the injustices of the socio-economic system and law enforcement can cripple the body and soul, and how some people can overcome those same injustices with hope, resilience, and redemption.

The setting is the Shawshank Penitentiary from 1951 to 1970. Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding (played by David Michael Tate) narrates part of the story, beginning with the arrival of Andy Dufresne (Tyler C. Small), a banker who received a double life sentence of murdering his wife and her lover. As virtually all prisoners do, Andy claims he is innocent. But newbies are intimidated mentally and physically, not just by the prison, the guards (Hadley, played by a.m. bhatt and Entwistle, played by Joshua Eaddy), and the warden (Stammas, played by Tom Cleary), but by the hardened convicts who are referred to as the Sisters: Bogs Diamond (Adam Coale), Rooster (Christopher Cooney), Rico (Roderick Adams), Dawkins (Roger Dykeman), Pinky (Lenny Carlucci), and Junior (James Chiles, who also plays the prison cook and announcer). Only Red, Brooksie (John Atkin), and soon Tommy Williams (Tony Moreno) show Andy any humanity. Red is “Mr. Get Things” – he is the fixer who can get anything, including illegal drugs and the rock hammer for Andy, who casually explains that his hobby is studying rocks. He says, “Everyone should have a hobby. He also asks for a large poster of Rita Hayworth. Brooksie runs the prison library, which is a small collection of books, mostly detective stories, on a trolley. Tommy is a convicted carjacker who and high school dropout. Andy encourages him to get his high school equivalency, which he does after failing it multiple times.

When Andy overhears Hadley mention his tax liability after receiving an inheritance, he advises him on how to make the bequest tax-free. Stammas decides to use Andy’s financial prowess by convincing him to be the “chef” of the ledgers of the finances of the prison in two separate ledgers. On the menu are the official finances and Stammas’s income from exploiting prisoners for public works, undercutting labor costs, and taking bribes. Bon appetit.

Tommy finds out that Andy was framed for the double murder, and agrees to testify on his behalf, but Stammas makes sure that will never happen by bullying him to the point of death and putting Andy in solitary confinement.

Months later, Andy tells Red about his dream of living in Zihuatanjeno, a Mexican town on the Pacific Coast because, “They say The Pacific has no memory. That's where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.” He asks Red that once he is released, he will recover a package from a specific tree near Buxton.

At a roll call, the guards find Andy's cell empty and no sign of him anywhere. An incensed Stammas throws a rock at a poster of Rita Hayworth which is hanging on Andy’s cell wall. He finds a tunnel from which Andy escaped with a suit, shoes, and the cookbook with the evidence of the corruption at Shawshank.

 A year later, Red is paroled and reluctantly goes to Buxton to keep his promise to Andy. The box Andy buried under the tree contains cash and a letter inviting him to come to Zihuantanejo. He feels hope finally and travels out of the country, even though he knows he would violate his parole. He and Andy finally find each other. Andy tells him, “Remember that hope is a good thing, Red, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” It turns out he was also right. “Everyone should have a hobby.”

The compelling story is expertly directed by Deborah Burke and assistant director Erin Sullivan. Joel Reynold’s efficient but functional set design and Jessie Lizotte’s lighting design evoked a place no one should ever have to go. Alexis Yulo Hoffman’s costume designs were bang on for the long period of time in the play. Although they were simple and mostly identical, it couldn’t have been done without excellent help from Assistant Costume Designer Savannah Hall. Meg Bona did the prop design, which included the dishes for gruel from the kitchen and the growing collection of books in the prison library. Patricia Berg is the stage manager. Kudos to producer Nova Hall for putting together such an amazing show.

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