Uncomfortably Alive: A Fever Dreams Review

TheaterWorks Hartford kicks off its 24/25 season with a gripping production of Jeffrey Leiber’s Fever Dreams, directed by Rob Ruggiero. Set present day, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, Fever Dreams pulls at the threading of the ties that bind in the tangled mess that is the connection between characters. This production explores the emotional range of grief, and the animalistic tendencies of human survival that give truth to the idea that, “it's not love on which the strongest foundations are built. It's the decency of merciful lies.”

Kimolee ErynOctober 11, 2024Theater review, theaterworks, Fever Dreams, Lana Young, Tim DeKay, Doug SavantComment

Message in a Bottle: A Sandra Review

Theaterworks Hartford’s production of Sandra, directed by Jared Mezzocchi, is a masterpiece of a love story, where love, as we know it, is as rare and elusive as the “birds that never show up if you go out looking for it.” Sandra is a one-woman psychological thriller that plays like a cautionary tale of the dangers of the impulsivities surrounding our restlessness.

Theater ReviewKimolee ErynJune 9, 2024Theater review, theaterworksComment

They Let Me In: A Sanctuary City Review

The borrowed lives of American immigrants are honored in the visually stunning and remarkably layered story that is Sanctuary City. TheaterWorks Hartford, in partnership with Long Wharf Theatre, presents Sanctuary City, written by Martyna Majok and directed by Jacob G. Padrón and Pedro Bermúdez.

Set in Newark, New Jersey on the heels of 9/11, this production plays on the non-linear nature of memory, exposing excerpts of two intertwined lives in a fragmented back-and-forth as they recall defining moments of their connection. As Dreamers with an acute awareness of the disconnect that exists between them and the country they call home, B and G are tasked with the impossible—planning for their respective futures in a place that is provisional at best, without the security of belonging.

Theater ReviewKimolee ErynApril 6, 2024Theater review, theaterworks, Sanctuary CityComment

Nothing’s Ever Gone: The Garbologists Review

One man’s trash is another man’s mongo. Lindsay Joelle’s The Garbologists, set in the streets of New York, brings us through the grime of the other circle of life—the lifespan of a person’s stuff by way of that cycle’s end. This play champions themes of grief, invisibility, and the value of the discarded; from the people that society doesn’t have the eyes to see, to the things that make them luminous. Theaterworks Hartford’s intimate playhouse sets the stage for the unboxing of truths for sanitation workers across the nation as told by Danny and Marlowe.

Theater ReviewKimolee ErynFebruary 25, 2024Theater review, theaterworks, The GarbologistsComment

Grease Trap Confessions: A Clyde’s Review

The recurrence of the perfect sandwich discussion, amid their respective and communal trials, is like a trick candle, reigniting each time we think their hope has been put out. The war between their “we leave the pain in the pan” and Clyde’s “don’t get too high on hope” resonates with us all.

You can catch a showing of Clyde’s at Theaterworks Hartford , extended through August 5th.

Theater ReviewKimolee ErynJuly 27, 2023theaterworks, Theater review, Theater, Clyde'sComment