HARTFORD, CT, February 10, 2013 — HartBeat Ensemble, a Hartford-based theater company, has signed a multi-year agreement on a new home: the 77-seat venue on 360 Farmington Avenue that was originally occupied by Hartford Children’s Theatre. HartBeat leadership announced on February 10, 2013 that their season would begin this spring at the company’s new theater with the premiere of its new mainstage production Riding The Turnpike, April 24-May 18, 2013. Steven Raider-Ginsburg and Julia Rosenblatt, HartBeat’s Co-Artistic Directors, said that the new theater “offers an intimate setting for artists and community to gather to experience great theater.” They added, “It will prove a perfect opportunity to increase HartBeat’s visibility and impact in
Hartford”

As a complement to presenting its own theater and educational work, HartBeat will also establish a presenting season that will include two new reading series: First Reads and Truth & Power: A to Z as well as the presentation of local and national theater artists. Details of the ensemble’s first season at The Carriage House Theater are close to being completed and will be announced by the end of the month. In addition, The Carriage House Theater will be available to other local groups for performance and rehearsal at a subsidized rate.

The Carriage House Theater is a project of Immanuel Congregational Church, UCC. “We realize the importance of supporting the arts in our community. HartBeat’s work is aesthetically dynamic as well as socially important and we are thrilled they will be in residence at The Carriage House Theater,” says Bob McNair, Co-Chair of the Properties Committee at the church.

Friends of HartBeat will have a chance to visit the new space at a Welcome Reception on March 5 from 5:30 – 6:30pm. Please call Jen Yanko at 860-548-9144, x115 for more information. HartBeat currently operates out of Theater Work’s City Arts on Pearl building in downtown Hartford, and presents their work at various venues throughout the Greater Hartford area. Moving to The Carriage House Theater is the beginning of HartBeat’s quest to find a permanent home in Hartford Recently the company received support from the Department of Economic Community Development, Office of the Arts and the Travelers Foundation to support the exploration of developing a selfsustaining, performing arts facility in Hartford. Over the course of the next two years, HartBeat will conduct feasibility studies to address three major capacities: Financial Analysis and Modeling, Arts Market Analysis and Community Needs, and Site Analysis.

Founded in 2001 by Steven Ginsburg, Julia B. Rosenblatt and Gregory Tate (1952-2012), HartBeat Ensemble is a Connecticut-based performance company that creates theater drawn from contemporary life. The company uses their own unique play-creation process, which focuses on firsthand accounts and interviews to extend the boundaries of theater. Through Mainstage Productions and Education Programs, HartBeat develops innovative theater works that are accessible beyond the barriers of class, race, geography and gender.