Have You Heard That...?

Javques Lamarre

… Manchester resident Jacques Lamarre’s new play, Trigger Warning, will have its world premiere for the Zeitgeist Stage Co., a resident theater company at the Boston Center for the Arts, from April 12 to May 4. The play, which was commissioned by the theater, looks at the impact of a school shooting from the perspective of the shooter’s family.

Donald Margulies (left) here with writer Jeffrey Sweet. Photo by Frank Rizzo

The latest play from New Haven’s Donald Margulies, Long Lost, will begin previews at the Manhattan Theatre Club on May 14 and opens in June. The show, directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, is described as “a funny, unsettling, ultimately moving play about the limits of compassion and filial obligation.”

Lisa Lampanelli and dog Parker. Photo by Frank Rizzo.

… “Queen of Mean” Lisa Lampanelli, who officially retired from comedy on The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM radio last year for a career as a — no joke — life coach, will present a storytelling session calledFat Chance: An Evening of Conversation and Story with Lisa Lampanelli at the Ridgefield Playhouse on April 11. Joining her will be former Daily Showregular and gay icon Frank DeCaro. Lampanelli tells me that a book is inevitably in the works, though she is too busy now with her consultations, workshops and storytelling sessions.

Hartford Stage production of ‘Make Believe’ . Photo by T. Charles Erickson

… Most of this season’s off-Broadway Second Stage lineup is Connecticut rooted. This year begins with the Tom Kitt musical Superhero, which began at the National Music Theater Conference at the O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford; then in May it’s a revival of Dying City by Christopher Shinn of Wethersfield. (Hartford Stage did a production of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist play in 2008.) In August it’s Bess Wohl’s Make Believe,which had its premiere at Hartford Stage in September. This is a new production staged by Michael Greif.

… There’s an EP of six songs from the musical Band Geeks — the show about a high school marching band — which had its world premiere at Goodspeed Musicals in 2010. The recording has been released on the Yellow Sound Label and is available on digital platforms, including iTunes, Spotify and Apple Music. Much of the original Goodspeed cast returned to record the EP, including Tony winner Ruthie Ann Miles (Here Lies Love, The King and I), Tony winner Lindsay Mendez (Carousel), Patti Murin(Frozen), Alex Gemignani (Carousel), Hartt grad Douglas Lyons (Book of Mormon, Beautiful), Jill Abramovitz (Beetlejuice!, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Matt Braver (Mozart in the Jungle), Jason Michael Snow, F. Michael Haynie, Jacey Powers, Jared Gertner and Michael Millan.

Darko Tresnjak at home. Photo by Frank Rizzo

… Darko Tresnjak, outgoing artistic director at Hartford Stage, is writing the lyrics and book for a new musical called Sex and Death. Also look for three more new productions of the musical Anastasia, which he directed, in Europe in 2019.

… A new project by playwright Christopher Shinn will play the Park Avenue Armory’s vast Wade Thompson Drill Hall in New York City late in 2019. The Wethersfield native’s adaptation of Odon von Horvath’s Judgment Day, a project commissioned by the Armory and directed by Richard Jones, will have its premiere Dec. 5 through Jan. 11, 2020.

… Even though the Long Wharf Theatre-Shubert Theatre-Albertus Magnus College consortium did not win in its bid to take over property on College and Crown streets, it’s still seeking a new space in downtown New Haven, including one just off Crown and Temple streets, opposite the Bow Tie Criterion Cinemas.