Combining interactive theater with evidenced based assessment tools, Startin’ Drama moves beyond typical bullying prevention programs by creating and performing scenes that come from participants’ specific experiences.

Actors and acting interns must be able to play characters between the ages of 11 and 19 and be available for daytime performances (most likely no more than 2 a month). Actors are paid a day rate and acting interns are given a stipend.

For more information please send resume and headshot/photo julia.rosenblatt@hartbeatensemble.org or call 860-548-9144 ext.113

Gifts and pledges as of 1/18/12

Anonymous
Stephen & Maggie Adair
Marla Adelsberger
Jack Anderson
Julia Baldini
Anne Banks
Joseph Barber
Lisa Barnes
Jill Barrett
JoAnne Bauer
Erik Beach
Eva Bermudez
Brian Berry* & Stacie Turner
William Breetz
Lois Bromson
Linda Bronstein
Haines Brown
Valerie Bryan
Victoria Carmona
Anthony Cherolis
Thomas Chopp
Timothy Cole in honor of Ben Cole
Robert & Linda Coollick
Rand and Mary Cooper
Chris Corcoran
Ricardo Cruz
Kathy Crystal
Monique Daley
Barbara Davis
Kevin Donovan*
Desrey Downer
Andrea Dyrness
Shirley Dudley
Duste Dunn
William Durso
Patricia Edge
Lynn Ferrari
Ellison Findly
Ruth Fitzgerald
Gail Fresia
Howard Gadlin & Brenda Hanning
Tracy & John Gale
Colleen Gant
Jill Giles
Judy Gordon
Terry Greiss
Dan Haar
Bettina Hansen, in honor of Natalie Hansen
LaResse Harvey
Lisa Hathaway
Robert Hoffnung
Brittany Joiner
Karen Kessler
Alexander & Betty Ann Krayeske
Holly Krayeske
Ken Krayeske & Wildaliz Bermudez
Ana Lachelier
Susan Lennon & Robert Merritt
Nolan Langweil & Shannon Lesley
Cornell & Terry Lewis
Colman Long & Elsie Vazquez-Long
Suzanne Lord & Frank Hopgood
Nancy Macy & Bob Painter
Jane Macy-Painter
Brendan Mahoney*
Carolyn and Laura Maloney-Hastillo
Leta Marks
Josh Michtom
Brian Mills
Drew & Cheryl Mitchell
Darrel Moellendorf & Bonnie Friedmann
Jean & David Molodetz
Mondo Bizarro
Patricia Moran
Sandra Morgan
Mary Lee Morrison & William B. Upholt
John Murphy
John Nelson* & Chris Larson Nelson
Tomas Nenortas
Eliot Nerenberg & Amy Jaffe
Georgiana Newson
Tokuji Okamoto
Caitlynne Palmieri
Lynn & Dave Parker
John Passalacqua & Marye Gail Harrison
Julia Pistell
Leslie Prado
Maryanne Preli
Shannon Raider
Helen Raisz*
Kennard Ray
Kathleen Riley
Matt Ritter
Jaimee Roberts
Deborah Rogala
Judith Rosenbaum
Eric Rosenblatt
Janet Rosenblatt
Leon & Lucy Rosenblatt
Laura & Dave Rozza
Leonard & Nadia Santarsiero
John & Linnea Sarantopoulos
Jennifer* & Eelco Scholte
Mary Sherwin & Hank Murray
Tom Smart
Elvy Stepinoff & Dennis Otlowski
Janelle & Tim Stevens
Rachel Taylor
Sally & Allan Taylor
John & Ellen Thomas
Lynn Thomas
Joan Twiggs
Madeline Vasquez
Carol Vinick & Tom Connolly
Martha Vinick
Leese Walker
Debra Walsh & Carol Walter
George Weiss Associates
Nick Wolf
Hyacinth Yennie
Leslie Zamer

*Denotes HartBeat Board Member

Come learn about the work of HartBeat Ensemble, and how we create original plays based on stories from Greater Hartford. HartBeat members Julia Rosenblatt and Cindy Martinez will also perform excerpts of spoken word poetry/songs from HartBeat’s latest show, “Flipside.”

Thursday, December 1st, 7pm:
Nancy Macy & Robert Painter, Hartford

Friday, December 9th, 7pm:
Ken Krayeske & Wildaliz Bermudez, Hartford

Thursday, December 15th, 7pm:
Sally and Allan Taylor, Hartford

Contact Maureen at (860) 548-9144 or maureen.welch@hartbeatensemble.org to if you are interested in attending a HartBeat House Party.

From Greg Tate:

So I’m turning 60 on January 26th. Two things that are miraculous. One, is that I actually have made it this close to 60! I mean I come from that “anyone over 30 is old” generation. 40 and 50 amazed me but 60?!!??! AND. Two, is HartBeat Ensemble, because to put it quite simply, thanks to HartBeat, I have been living my dream for the last ten years.

Wanna give me a nice birthday present? As a Co-Founder of HartBeat Ensemble, I’m asking you to make a donation of to our end-of-year fundraising campaign.

This year we received devastating news: HartBeat was not renewed for a $57,000 state education grant during a round of cuts. This grant helped fund our highly successful and important Youth Play Institute and helped to fund staff and artistic salaries.

Please make a donation to HartBeat Ensemble using some “Greg Tate math.” Pick a denomination below in some permutation of 60.

Such as:
60 / 3 = $20: If you’ve known Tate for a 1/3 of his life, it would be 20 years!

60 X 2 = $30: $30 in honor of Tate’s radioactive “half life.”

1 x 60 = $60: For the 1st time you’ve donated $60 to HartBeat Ensemble in Greg Tate’s name!

2 x 60 = $120: Multiplied by two for the number of times in the last 60 years Greg Tate told you a joke that you actually laughed at.

4 x 60 = $240: “4″ he’s a jolly good fellow!

Or any equation of “Greg Tate math” you feel like celebrating!

One day I was called in to the nurses office at Hartford High. One of the practitioners named Ruth asked me, “Jonathan, what are your plans after you graduate?” My response was “Ruth, I want to be become an actor.” Then she pulled out a small flier from her cabinet for HartBeat’s Youth Play Institute.

She asked me to go audition, however, dealing with Asperger Syndrome I was dead against it. Yeah I want to become an actor, but I wasn’t sure about auditioning for a role so early. So I told Ruth that I am not sure about this, she asked me why and I stated my reason was my shyness and how I can’t overcome it and my Asperger Syndrome. So she took my hand and escorted me to the auditioning room. The whole time we were walking, I wanted to leave. Ruth opened the door and there I saw Cindy. She took Cindy aside and told her about me.

While Cindy was putting all of the potential actors through obstacles, my hands were shaking and sweaty. I was nervous, I wanted to go home! So I told Cindy that I needed to go. When I walked home, I felt a sense of relief because I wasn’t nervous anymore, but I felt really bad. I kept doubting myself saying “I can’t do this”, “I can’t do this.” I thought the whole thing was behind me. However, that night the house phone rings. It was Cindy, right before I left the auditions, she gave me other options that I could do, so I choose to become a sound producer.

I was shocked that she wanted me to come by, as I wasn’t expecting a phone call because of my early departure from the audition. When I arrived at the first class, I met the crew, I saw some new faces and some faces I saw during the audition. I was just sitting and minding my own business, not interacting with anyone. Then Cindy and Nora led us through several “games” that would help us learn to act.

I have to admit, I really didn’t like it at all. I was nervous that I had to interact with anybody. The next time we all met, everything began to change. I started liking the games we played, I began to understand about acting and for the first time I started to interact with kids around my age. From this time forward, I always wanted to perform first. Before YPI I would have never done that. I began to like acting and showing up all the time. When it came down to script writing, I seemed to really like it. I wrote some rough drafts that I believed could help our play. When I revealed them to Cindy, I was told that it had to be accepted by group. I was like damn, I am not sure anyone would like them! After a fast-read, the group really liked my scenes and wanted them to be in the play. I was happy that they liked my material and that it would be performed.

When it was opening night, my heart was jumping. Backstage, the group and I came together and threw our hands up in the air. When it was time to perform, I was shaking like crazy, I was looking out to see how the first scene was going, while my friend Jessica was right next to me. I told her “We Can Do This!”

The lights goes off, its now scene two. As the lights goes up, I was so scared but the adrenalin started to kick in. After the show was over, I felt extremely proud of myself, I felt that I could do anything that I set my mind too. I was just happy. I was being complimented from left to right. My mom really liked it and so did my nephews. I went home happy and proud of myself. The next day was the last time that the group would see each other. We watched our performance and ate cake, we were laughing at each other and ourselves. We became a strong family. When I left, I knew that this is what I want to do. Never again will I say, “I Can’t Do This!” because the impossible is always possible, “We Can Do This!”

Without you, we will not be able to continue our work in 2012. We can tell our youth programs are having a huge effect, Jonathan’s story is just one example. Please give today so more students like Jonathan have a chance to find their confident voice through theater.

Julia B. Rosenblatt creates a solid piece of theater that transcends the limits of theater-by-committee. It feels like it was written by a single voice. The characters are well-drawn with good specificity, the dialogue is far from cliché and there’s plenty of nuanced shadings in the performances.

…the script is fairly subtle, well-crafted and zeros in on real and complex people, especially in the relationship between the narc who’s hooked on saving the world and the intelligent urban youth who goes down the wrong path despite his better judgment.

…Also enlivening the work was the free-feeling yet solidly designed structure that jumps in time and place, with scenes woven nicely together with poetry by Cindy Martinez and music by Martin Carillo.

Read the full review on Courant.com! Flipside only runs to October 29th, so make sure you see it before it’s too late! Buy tickets online or by calling (860) 548-9144.

It’s the play that was called “real, relevant, raw” and had you singing “on the flipside of things” for days. If you didn’t get a ticket before it sold out, here’s your chance to get in and see it for yourself.

Back by overwhelming demand, Flipside returns with a limited run on Thursday – Saturday nights from October 13th – 29th on the ground floor of The Hollander building at 410 Asylum Street, downtown Hartford.

Based on interviews with two real people, Flipside tells the story of a friendship between a Hartford teen named Bo and an undercover narcotics agent named Nick. The show combines original music and intense spoken-word poetry throughout the play’s narrative on drug use and trafficking in neighborhoods.

Audiences agree that Flipside tells a compelling and relevant story about the War on Drugs without being sanctimonious in its delivery…

“An excellent experience, cleverly written, powerful and driving, showing both side of the spectrum.  A fourth-wall fracturing masterpiece Hartford must see.  ”

“It was an inspiring story; A well-told message that should be announced worldwide.  Thank you for the experience.  I give it five stars.”

Directed by Co-Founding Artistic Director, Greg Tate, Flipside involved two years worth of painstaking research and subsequent workshops in partnership with CCSU’s Center for Regional and Municipal Policy, Portland Oregon’s Sojourn Theater and Manchester Community College; HartBeat has lead open dialogues and over 40 individual interviews on the subject in order to create the play. “We found that no matter what a person believes about drug use and selling, they tend to be very passionate about their feelings on the matter.” says Tate, “Of course that makes for great theater. It’s tricky, and very fun stuff.”

Flipside runs the month of October 13 – 29 every Thursday, Friday, & Saturday at 7:30pm on the ground floor, High Street side of The Hollander building at 410 Asylum Street, downtown Hartford. Tickets can be purchased by calling 860.548.9144, or by buying online. and are $20 with a discounted price of $15 for all seniors, students, and Let’s Go Arts! members. As with all HartBeat Ensemble shows, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Flipside was made possible through the generous support of: the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Betty Ruth and Milton Hollander Foundation Center; the NewAlliance Foundation; the Knox Foundation, the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation, the City of Hartford Development Services MECA Office, and the City of Hartford Arts & Heritage Jobs Grant Program, Pedro E. Segarra, Mayor.

HartBeat Ensemble is bringing playwright Sean Christopher Lewis to town to perform his acclaimed show Killadelphia. Make sure to catch one of two performances of Killadelphia in Hartford on November 4, 2011 at 8pm or November 5, 2011 at 8pm.

In the Summer of 2008, it was often said that Philadelphia had “more bodies than days.” The city was in the midst of a murder epidemic that put it on par with some third world countries.

Determined to take an unflinching look at the causes of the crime rate and its effect on the community, playwright/performer Sean Christopher Lewis introduces us to the inmates of Graterford Prison – men employed to beautify the city even as they serve out life sentences.

The voices of the prisoners, their victims, Mayor Nutter, local rappers, conservative talk show hosts, trauma surgeons, and the citizens of the City of Brotherly Love crowd the stage to say their piece.

Played by Lewis, a performer described by the New York Press as “explicitly authentic”, these voices combine with a shocking document of life in America’s toughest town.

The stunning result is Killadelphia: mixtape of a city. See it here in Hartford on November 4 & 5th.

Sean Christopher Lewis will also be holding a workshop for teens on November 5, 2011 at 2pm, contact us for details.

While there is available street parking close to the theater, there is now a convenient lot option right near the theater entrance. For only $5, park at the Union Place lot on the corner of Allyn & High St (directly across from Black Bear Saloon).

Present your Killadelphia ticket or will-call email receipt to the booth operator while parking for the $5 rate. $5 parking is valid through 9:30pm, parking to 1am is an additional $3.

Call 860-548-9144 with any questions on parking, and of course, to purchase tickets!

(insert flashback music here)…

Working in tandem some days with local filmmaker and video producer Helder Mira, we caught the Flipside actors and director during some of their most vulnerable moments, as they worked tirelessly to bring their play to the main stage. We also saw them take a donated space in the renovated, LEED certified, multipurpose commercial space, The Hollander Building, and make it their own; building a stage, painting, and adding their personal touches, turning it into an intimate performing space that would later be used to host fundraising shindigs, jazz concerts, and poetry showcases.

Sitting in that performance space during rehearsal proved to be some of the coldest days I ever endured. It was in the middle of one of the most horrific winters of my adult life, here in the northeast. However,  it registers as one of my most memorable collaborations to date and I enjoyed it all; Cold, dour, and ugly.

Needless to say, Flipside had a successful spring-summer run. Audiences appreciated its take on the War on Drugs and its effect on the surrounding communities. As one Flipside fan put it, Flipside is “such a comprehensive and realistic portrayal of some of the conditions urban youth face.”

Flipside is based on actual interviews with two real people, and tells the story of a friendship between a Hartford teen named Bo and an undercover narcotics agent named Nick (who’s happens to be haunted by his own demons). The show combines original music and spoken-word poetry throughout the play’s narrative on drug use and trafficking in neighborhoods.  Audiences definitely were into Flipside and the discourse it told about drug trafficking. It was interspersed with a little humor and very catchy musical numbers I continue to hum til this day.

Director and co-founding Artistic Director, Greg Tate opined…

“We found that no matter what a person believes about drug use and selling, they tend to be very passionate about their feelings on the matter.” says Tate, “Of course that makes for great theater. It’s tricky, and very fun stuff.”

(Queue back to the present)…

Now back and ready to blow away even more theater goers, the talented actors of Flipside coming back to feed you more, as the play makes a limited run this October 13th-29th at The Hollander Building in downtown Hartford at 410 Asylum Street! Show times begin at 7:30 pm and will run every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Tickets are $20 with a discounted price of $15 for all students, seniors, and Let’s Go Arts! members. Call 860.548.9144 or visit http://hartbeatensemble.org to purchase tickets.

HartBeat Ensemble also recently had a raucously good time celebrating at the Mark Twain House and Museum, in commemoration of their 10-year anniversary. For the past ten years, HartBeat Ensemble has been creating original, professional theater based on stories from the Hartford community, through Main-stage plays, Open-Air performances and Education programs. The theater company has left and continues to leave an indelible mark on the Hartford community, by composing original content and giving voice to Hartford’s storied past and present, via the wonders of performance art and theater.  Folks danced, mingled and helped HartBeat Ensemble commemorate 10 years (and counting) of making strides in the Hartford community, and in many ways, setting trends in the local theater scene.

I had a great time watching them re-live some of their most memorable moments that evening, and am even more stoked about the re-opening of Flipside, this coming Thursday.