Okay, so the calendar reads July, but other than those printed dates from 1 – 31, there’s been little sign of summer in Connecticut. While the cooler than usual days may be pleasant enough, for outdoor summer theater, the combination of rainy days and cold nights has left box offices with a bit of a chill. Unless of course, you’re talking about the Summer Theatre of New Canaan, where at least you are protected from the elements by a tent.
Summer Theatre of New Canaan assembles a Broadway-level season featuring professional Equity talent and four members of an especially talented family. Actor Christian Libonati admits taking direction from his older sister – and his Mom — is “not always easy.”
“But I’ve been able to work around that,” he said, “because in the final analysis I trust the theatrical judgment of both of them.”
At 29 sis is Allegra Libonati, five years older than her kid brother and director of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” in Waveny Park. Mom is Melody Meitrott Libonati, the artistic director of the theater, and the director of the musical classic “Camelot.” She is also a Broadway musical actress.A fourth family member associated with the theater is husband Ed, the executive director and the principal in an award-winning creative marketing agency in Norwalk called The Brandloft.
The four acknowledge sensitivity to labeling Summer Theatre of New Canaan a family enterprise. Each of them is accomplished in their own right outside of New Canaan – on the stage and in the creative realm extending from advertising to TV commercials to soap operas.
But beyond that they all recognize the success of the theater is entirely dependent on continuing to generate a product that the critics in their enthusiasm describe as Broadway-level, assembled from both sides of the footlights by a core of professionals who regularly work on Broadway or a comparable orbit.
And as an unabashed supporter of Summer Theatre of New Canaan is Broadway
icon Tommy Tune, drew a capacity crowd to the Rich Forum in Stamford to benefit the theater.
“It’s vital to our identity that we are inclusive,” Ed Libonati says, “and we recruit the best available performers and backstage talent. We look for people with uncommon energy and a commitment to the theater.”
In providing summer outdoor entertainment for adults and young people for a sixth season under a new protected all-weather outdoor theater, the intent is to broaden the audience to embrace the surrounding communities in Connecticut and New York and to add to the appeal of New Canaan as a summer destination and a cultural focus for fresh artistic expression.
The community exudes a pastoral charm and is the site of the historic Philip Johnson Glass House and numerous examples of innovative architecture by Johnson’s Harvard Five movement of modernists, plus the creative vitality of the Silvermine Guild Arts Center, the elegant estates behind the rolling lush green lawns, the bucolic 260-acre Waveny Park with its summer concerts, the chic shopping on Elm Street and seven schools dedicated to acting, singing, music and dancing…
For the first time, Summer Theatre of New Canaan is producing its entire professional season in Waveny Park under a new state-of-the-art open-air theater tent. The season opened with “Taming of the Shrew” and now presents “Camelot” July 18-Aug. 2, supplemented by presentations by Theatre for a Young Audience, “Pinocchio (A Folk Musical)” June 26-July 11 and “Shakespeare for Kids: Taming of the Shrew,” a 50-minute introduction to Shakespeare, June 27, July 4 and July 11.
Christian Libonati is the executive director of the Chicago-based Filament Theatre Ensemble, established with four of his acting associates from Northwestern University. The ensemble is mounting “Pinocchio” in New Canaan as an original musical “to inspire a sense of wonder and excitement” in young audiences.
At the Al Hirschfeld Theater, meanwhile, his sister Allegra is the assistant director of the Broadway revival of “Hair,” the folk rock musical that defined the 1960s generation. Her interest in performing has waned as she became more immersed in directing. She is preparing to start an artistic fellowship with the American Repertory Theater associated with Harvard University.
Melody Meitrott Libonati, the artistic director, has performed as a lead on Broadway and in the soap opera “One Life to Live.” She is the founding director of the Performing Arts Conservatory of New Canaan and developed the performing arts platform at King & Low Heywood Thomas High School in Stamford.
Additional information about the theatre and the season is available at www.stonc.org.
The Summer Theatre of New Canaan was established in 2004 as a 501(c) 3 professional nonprofit theater company to provide exciting performances for multigenerational audiences and learning opportunities for many of the region’s talented performers and technicians, working with professional performers and production staff.
“We’re competing with free Shakespeare productions offered throughout the state,” said Ed Libonate pointing out that New Canaan Equity (union of professional actors) productions charge $18 for seats on the grass, and offer other tickets from $28 – $38. “Fifty percent of the cost depends on foundation grants and private donors,” he said. “We have an exceptional design team and we’re developing a company of actors. Our ultimate goal is to run the theater as a repertory theater. We want to establish a permanent home in New Canaan.
The tent seats 250 people with another 150 people on the field. The show goes on rain or shine, so here’s to a sunny summer finale. For more information check out the theater’s website: