Arts in CT Corporation present our summer performance 2018 for teens and adults. In The Heights conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda (the man behind the Hamilton phenomenon) runs August 4 in Wilbur Cross Auditorium in New Haven, CT.
In The Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican community in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood—a place where the coffee from the bodega is light and sweet, the windows are always open, and the streets explode with the songs and rhythms of three generations. It’s a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams, and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you, and which ones you leave behind. In The Heights is the winner of the 2008 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations.
The show was conceived, and the music and lyrics were written by, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda is perhaps best known today as the creator of Hamilton, which won 11 Tony Awards in 2016 including Best Musical. The book for the show was written by Quiara Alegría Hudes.
This production of In The Heights is directed by Mike Reynolds. Speaking about this production, Reynolds states:
This play is about Home, with a capital “H”. Even in the poorest, grittiest, most potentially dangerous of environments, it is here where we find our strength, our passion, our center and our identity. It is a thing worth building, nurturing and defending, and it is worth any sacrifice to maintain it.
“In the Heights” tells the story of recent Caribbean immigrants trying to build a home and an identity in the Washington Heights section of New York City in the early 21st Century. Like many neighborhoods, it is a community focused upon itself, sheltered and secluded both physically and culturally from the rest of the city.
I see it as three 2-story city buildings – a car service office, a news-stand bodega, and a beauty salon set up in the shadow of the George Washington Bridge. It’s a grey gritty environment, but one which has been colored brightly by the spirit of its inhabitants. There are small apartments above each shop.
These buildings can be simple constructions using three sets of two-story metal scaffolding supporting fragmentary flats - suggestions of what shop or whose apartment they are.
It is a community of great spirit and passion, and as such is always in motion – progressing into its future with a powerful salsa beat. I suggest that it be choreographed from start to finished with salsa moves for all of the characters.
In The Heights runs August 3-4 at Wilbur Cross High School,
181 Mitchell Dr, New Haven, CT 06511. Performances take place Friday and Saturday at 7pm, with matinees at 2pm on Satuday. Appropriate for middle school students and above. The production will have a live band.
Auditions will be held on June 1 and June 3 by appointment only and June 2 is an open casting call. To book your auditons sign up online at
www.artsinct.org/heights or call (203)936-8567,
info@artsinct.org. Location is at our Milford address,
64 Ridge St, Milford, CT 06460
www.artsinct.org.
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