Dana Ivey, Richard Thomas & More Set for Hartford Stage's 50th Anniversary Celebration Weekend, 11/2-4

Dana Ivey, Richard Thomas, Bill Raymond and other notable actors and directors will lead the applause as Hartford Stage celebrates its 50th Anniversary. Three events create the capstone of the year-long festivities: same day performances of La Dispute and Macbeth on Saturday, November 2; a 50-Year Retrospective: A Conversation with all Five Artistic Directors at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 3; and the Hartford Stage 50th Anniversary Celebration at 6:30 p.m. Monday, November 4.

In a nod to the theatre's earliest years, La Dispute and Macbeth are playing in repertory, two very different works performed by the same cast. The anniversary weekend offers celebrants the opportunity to see these productions in a single day: La Dispute, Marivaux's comedy, at 2 p.m., and Macbeth, Shakespeare's swift and terrifying tragedy, at 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 2. For information and a 25% discount offer on the second show, visit www.hartfordstage.org.

The golden anniversary weekend continues with a 50-Year Retrospective: A Conversation with All Five Artistic Directors. Join Hartford Stage's past and present artistic directors - founder Jacques Cartier, Paul Weidner, Mark Lamos, Michael Wilson and Darko Tresnjak - for a conversation about their experiences at Hartford Stage. Hosted by Walter and DiAnne Harrison, and moderated by Teresa Eyring, Executive Director of Theater Communications Group, the national advocacy group for non-profit theatres, the discussion will take place at the Millard Auditorium at the University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue. Admission is free but reservations are required due to limited seating. For reservations, contact the Box Office at 860-527-5151.

On Monday the party continues with the Hartford Stage 50th Anniversary Celebration, an evening of performances, featuring familiar faces who have appeared at Hartford Stage over the last 50 years, including Kate Forbes, David PatRick Kelly, Barbara Walsh, Matthew Rauch, Dana Ivey, Mary Layne, Kate MacCluggage, Novella Nelson, Lisa O'Hare, Bill Raymond, Richard Thomas, Breakdancing Shakespeare, and more. The actors will perform scenes or musical numbers from the plays they originally appeared in at Hartford Stage. The 50th Anniversary Celebration will take place at Hartford Stage on November 4, 2013, at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for premium seats and dinner are $175. Show-only preferred seats are $100, and show-only regular seats are $35. (Preferred and regular tickets do not include dinner.) Seating is limited. For reservations to this event, contact Kristen Mauro at 860-520-7241.

The 50-Year Retrospective: A Conversation with All Five Artistic Directors is sponsored, in part, by the Greater Hartford Arts Council's Hartford Events Grant. Both the 50-Year Retrospective: A Conversation with All Five Artistic Directors and Hartford Stage 50th Anniversary Celebration are sponsored by the Hoffman Auto Group and Bank of America. The anniversary weekend is made possible, in part, by the 50th Anniversary Season Legacy Sponsors: Travelers and United Technologies.

The Media Partners for the 50th Anniversary Season are The Hartford Courant, CBS Radio, and WNPR/Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network.

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