In one of the most exciting theater events of the current season, The Year of Magical Thinking, the stage adaptation of Joan Didion's bestselling memoir, has its Connecticut premiere at TheaterWorks. One of the true luminaries of American theater, Annalee Jefferies, stars in this recent Broadway hit, which will be directed by Steve Campo. The production runs April 17 through May 24, 2009 at TheaterWorks in downtown Hartford's City Arts on Pearl at 233 Pearl Street. (The play opens to press Friday, April 24 at 8 p.m.)
In The Year of Magical Thinking, award-winning author and journalist Joan Didion (portrayed by Annalee Jefferies) takes audiences on a journey back over the year when she abruptly lost her husband, Hartford native John Gregory Dunne, and their beloved daughter, Quintana Roo. Applying her fiercely logical brain to a situation that defied logic, Didion's words lead us on a quiet exploration of that "magical year" when grief came to call and hope was around the corner. The blockbuster Broadway engagement of The Year of Magical Thinking was the must-see event of 2007 and was called "a starkly honest theatrical miracle" (New York Post) and "unmissable theater" (Variety).
Throughout the run of The Year of Magical Thinking a stunning collection of solo portraits of women (many of them by women) from New Britain Museum of American Art (NBMAA) will be shown in TheaterWorks' Gallery of American Art at City Arts on Pearl. This exhibition, titled "Singular Women", has never previously been assembled by the Museum and includes many works never before shown publicly anywhere.
NBMAA's "Singular Women" spans the late 1800s through the early 21st century and encompass an exceptional range of styles and media. Among the paintings, an oil on canvas by Douglas Warner Gorsline is the basis for all of TheaterWorks' marketing imagery for The Year of Magical Thinking.
Joan Didion has been a novelist, essayist and screenwriter for more than three decades and was awarded the 1996 Edward MacDowell Medal and the 1999 Columbia Journalism Award. Her novels include Run River (1963), Play It As It Lays (1970), A Book of Common Prayer (1977), Democracy (1984), and The Last Thing He Wanted (1996). Her non-fiction includes Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968), The White Album (1978), Salvador (1983), Miami (1987), After Henry (1992), Political Fictions (2001), and The Year of Magical Thinking (2006), which won the National Book Award for Non-fiction. Ms. Didion and her late husband, John Gregory Dunne, have co-authored the screenplays The Panic in Needle Park (1971), Play It As It Lays (1973), A Star Is Born (1977), True Confessions (1982), Hills Like White Elephants (1990) and Up Close and Personal (1995). Ms. Didion currently lives in New York and is a contributor to The New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. The Year of Magical Thinking is her first play and she is currently writing a screenplay for HBO.
Annalee Jefferies is making her TheaterWorks debut. Although a resident of Texas, Ms. Jefferies has been seen at Hartford Stage in Our Town, A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur, The Learned Ladies of Park Avenue, Bad Dates, 8 by Tenn, The Night of The Iguana, Seascape, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Three Sisters. Off-Broadway, she appeared in Christopher Shinn's What Didn't Happen (directed by Michael Wilson). On regional stages, she most recently appeared at Kansas City Repertory as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie (directed by David Cromer), and The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead for the Cincinnati Playhouse and the Dallas Theatre Center. Ms. Jefferies has been a resident company member at the Alley Theatre for twenty seasons and Arena Stage for three seasons. She appeared in John Barton's ten-hour epic Tantalus (directed by Sir Peter Hall) for the Denver Center Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company and Horton Foote's Dividing The Estate (directed by Gerald Freedman) for Great Lakes Theatre Festival. Ms. Jefferies has appeared on film and television in Ned Blessing, L.A. Law, Violets Are Blue, and No Mercy. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 2003, she received the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress.
The Year of Magical Thinking is directed by TheaterWorks' Artistic Director Steve Campo. The production design team includes Brian Prather (sets), Marcus Doshi (lighting), and J Hagenbuckle (sound). Production Manager is Michael Lenaghan.
The Year of Magical Thinking runs April 17 through May 24, 2009 at TheaterWorks, City Arts on Pearl (wheelchair accessible), 233 Pearl Street in downtown Hartford. The play opens to press on Friday, April 24th at 8:00 p.m.
Performances are Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. There are two special mid-week matinees on Wednesday, May 6th and Wednesday, May 13th - both at 2:30 p.m. A completely free matinee for college students and faculty is offered on Saturday, April 25th at 2:30 p.m. Theater-Works' "ALL-FREE" matinee is hosted by Trinity College Department of Theater and Dance.
TheaterWorks' Main Lobby and Gallery of American Art open 90 minutes prior to all performances of The Year of Magical Thinking for audiences to enjoy the exhibition "Singular Women" along with other works from New Britain Museum of American Art. Bistro cuisine and wine from bin228 are available in the Gallery. Call (860) 527-7838 for more information.
Tickets are $37 for weeknights and matinees; $47 for Friday and Saturday evenings. Seating is general admission. Center reserved seats are $11 extra. College-age student rush tickets are $11 at show time with valid school ID (subject to availability). Special discounts are available for groups of 11 or more. A limited number of complimentary tickets for residents of downtown Hartford are available for select performances, courtesy of United Technologies.
Discounted parking is now available for $5 for TheaterWorks' patrons at CityPlace Garage (diagonally up Pearl Street from TheaterWorks) or the outdoor A & A Lot (on the corner of Asylum and Ann Street, across from Mayor Mike's Restaurant).
For information and reservations, call TheaterWorks at (860) 527-7838.
Subscriptions for TheaterWorks' upcoming five-play 2009-2010 season are now available for $123 - less than $25 per play. In addition, 3-play mini-subscriptions for the current 2008-2009 season (which includes The Year of Magical Thinking) are still available for $75. Additional schedule and production information is available by visiting www.theaterworks hartford.org.
TheaterWorks' 2008-2009 Season is sponsored by Aetna. TheaterWorks' City Arts Producer is United Technologies. TheaterWorks also receives support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, The Hoffman Foundation, and Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
