On Stage Now:
Once On This Island
Based on the novel "My Love, My Love" by Rosa Guy
Directed by Michael Burnett
July 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31
at 8:00 pm
Matineee on Sun., July 18 & 25
at 2:00 pm
FREE preview on July 8 for Senior Citizens only.
$20 General Admission / $15 with Student ID
Buy tickets for ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
CAST:
Principals: Michael Bobenhausen, DJ
Deboben, Dane Ross Jackson, Nick Kuell, Catherine McCollian, Caitlin
Nolan, Sammy Panzarino, Christina Pares, Melanie Romano, Kira
Wallace and featuring Jordan Williams as little Ti Moune
Storytellers: Steven Cognato, Kelly
Gleason, Samantha Gronwoldt, Zachary Jackson, Leila Noone, Deyon
Rosado, Megan Sniffin, Mariel Vincente, Daniel Wencek
Plot Summary: Taking place on a Caribbean island divided by social prejudice, Once On This Island is a calypso-flavored re-telling of the traditional “Little Mermaid” tale. The show revolves around Ti Moune, a poor peasant girl, who falls in love with Daniel, an upper class boy whose life she saves after a car crash. Various gods control the peasants’ lives including the god of Love, (Erzulie) Earth (Asaka), Water (Agwe), and Death (Papa Ge). The show focuses on the effects social class divisions have on love.
Haitian Health Foundation
A Charitable Outreach to Neighbors in Need
In our continuing efforts to be mindful of
the "community" part of community theater, TBTA will be accepting
donations for Haitian Health Foundation during the run of "Once On
This Island". We will also be accepting non-perishable food items on
July 9th, opening night.
About Haitian Health
Foundation: HHF’s main facilities are located in
Jérémie, Haiti, in the western end of Haiti-where people depend on
subsistence farming, charcoal production, and other menial jobs for
their livelihood. The average income is just $90-$300 US per year.
The area is very isolated, and even under the most favorable
conditions communication is scant, with no health services for the
poor. Living conditions are dehumanizing-families crushed into
hovels of banana leaves and thatch, shacks unsuitable for human
habitation. It is heartbreaking to see children rooting with animals
through the garbage for scraps of food.
HHF has created a
stable and loving preventive and curative health and development
program in the poorest area of the poorest country in the Western
Hemisphere. In addition to the city of Jérémie, HHF provides support
to over 100 rural mountain villages. While cynics decry the
impotence of individuals to change the world, HHF continues to
change lives-one person at a time. HHF is proud of an overhead of
less than 8 cents per donated dollar, with over 92 percent of funds
collected going directly to services for the poor.
ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, set in Haiti,
begins with a terrible storm and an orphaned girl is taken in by a
couple that have very little to give other than love. The fable they
tell her to calm her from the storm becomes the story of our show.
When $600 can build a sturdy cement home and $300 can feed a
malnourished child for a year, we hope to raise enough to build a
few homes and provide a substantial amount of food.
To
donate, visit: http://www.haitianhealthfoundation.org
and mention TBTA, or look for the specially marked donation jars at
TBTA throughout the month of July. We are also asking opening night
patrons to bring non-perishable food items
(specifically peanut butter) to the July 9th show.
Food donations will be driven to Norwich, CT the next morning to be
packed on a land/sea container leaving for Haiti that weekend.
Featured
Performer:
Christina Y. E. Parés
As a performer, she welcomed home troops from Iraq, sang for Former Mayor Guiliani, and starred in her own cabaret show The Night with the Voice in New York. She gave back to the Miss America Organization by becoming a New York City director, pageant coach, producer, choreographer, Marketing Director, and emcee. She has been honored to judge for over 200 talent and pageant competitions all over the country. Christina continues participating in pageants as she strives to aim for the Mrs. America title. In 2008, she was 1st Runner Up to Mrs. Connecticut America and, later that year, she earned the title of Mrs. US of America.
Christina has returned to her love for teaching by earning her Masters from NYU. She is certified in theatre education and is finalizing her math education certification. She taught at a Harlem charter school in New York City as a 5th Grade Math Teacher and is now continuing that role at a charter school in Bridgeport, CT.
She currently lives in Danbury with her husband, Michael, and their crazy oversized puppy, Dugga. Christina will play the lead role of Ti Moune in "Once On This Island" at TBTA which opens on July 9.
