Avon theatre group debuts with short plays by locally known artists

A series of short plays written by Connecticut residents – funny, whimsical, tender and thought-provoking – are set to hit the stage this summer.

Playhouse 44, a nonprofit theater company, is debuting a series of 10-minute plays at Avon High School in August called Nine Tens on 44. The plays are all written by former and current Connecticut residents — including New Yorker short story writer and cartoonist James Thurber, WTNH news anchor Dennis House and crime writer and former CEO of Mintz + Hoke Chris Knopf, a press release said.

The theater group is the brainchild of journalist and author Joel Samberg, who moved to Avon in 2010. When Samberg learned there was no community theater in town, he soon thought a disused cider mill in an old 1918 barn on Waterville Road, not far from his new house, would be the perfect place to start a new amateur theater group made up entirely of volunteers. But his hopes were soon dashed, until recently, he said.

“Well, before I actually put a plan into action, the cider mill was demolished, the Reggio Magnet School of the Arts was built in its place, and I put the dream of community theater aside,” Samberg said in a press release. “Today we may not have a barn, but we have a theater company, a planned production, and a place to perform it.”

“Many people told me it was going to be incredibly difficult to start a nonprofit theater organization in these post-pandemic times,” Samberg said. “And you know what? They were right. It was difficult. We had one roadblock and one obstacle after another. But over the last two years, a small group of enthusiastic, like-minded people have persevered. We’re small, we’re grassroots organizations, we’re on a small budget, but we’re motivated, dedicated, and maybe even a little crazy from time to time. And we’ve put together what we think is going to be a very entertaining evening of live theater.”

“Nine Tens on 44” — featuring a diverse cast of 20 members ranging in age from pre-teens to mid-70s — will be performed on the Avon High School auditorium stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday, August 9, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 10, and 2:00 p.m. Sunday, August 11. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and students and can be purchased online or at the box office shortly before each performance.

The group is also planning a silent trivia night on Tuesday, June 25th from 4:30 to 9:00 p.m. at American Flatbread in Canton. The public is encouraged to order pizza, complete a silent quiz and enter a drawing to win one of three different prizes. All proceeds from the event will benefit the theater group.

Stephen Underwood can be reached at [email protected]