The celebrated actress Gretchen Mol bought a house here in the Tristate region three years ago, shortly before the beginning of the pandemic, at a time when there was still theater/film/television work to be done in New York City.
Driving back and forth between City and Country, she recalls, she would pass the big red barn in Sharon, Conn., that is home to the Sharon Playhouse.
“I used to drive by it and think, ‘Someday …’,” she said.
It would be easy to think that Mol is kidding, but in fact she is not. A native of Connecticut, she had done community theater when she was growing up and understood both the importance and the fun of it.
But shortly after she arrived here, COVID-19 arrived as well, and often as she drove through Sharon she would see an empty parking lot at the theater.
More than just musicals
The pandemic did not completely shut down Sharon Playhouse, thanks to extraordinary efforts from its two leaders, Robert Levinstein and Alan M-L Wager, who left the theater at the beginning of this year.
The two indefatigable impresarios continued to organize outdoor events that audiences could watch from their cars and from lawn chairs in the parking lot.
And before they left, they made an important investment in continuing the playhouse’s legacy of education in theater arts. They hired Salisbury, Conn., native Michael Kevin Baldwin as the Sharon Playhouse director of education; he is now also the associate artistic director, working with Interim Artistic Director Justin Boccitto.
Pre-pandemic, Baldwin had been out in the wider world, teaching and performing. He is clearly delighted to be back in the Northwest Corner, working at Sharon Playhouse. As director of education he instituted a Performing Arts Residency at Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Conn.— which is where he met Gretchen Mol.
In spite of her beauty and fame (many will know her as the tragic Gillian Darmody in the HBO series “Boardwalk Empire”), Mol is extremely humble and Just Folks. She connected nicely with Baldwin (as most people do) and even ended up taking theater and dance classes at the playhouse.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn
Next to enter the scene is Andrus Nichols, who is a native of New York City but had lived here in the Tristate region for many years before moving back to the city and cofounding a theater company called Bedlam and then another company called The Coop. The Coop is where these disparate strands begin to come together.
A cofounder of the Coop with Nichols was playwright/actress Kate Hamill, who has gained some fame and a great deal of respect for her modern adaptations of classic novels for the stage. Just before the pandemic, she introduced a 21st-century version of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.”
Nichols did a first reading of the play at the Red Bull Theater in 2020.
Of Hamill’s version of the story of Hester Prynne, Nichols said, “Kate loves complicated women, and all of her adaptations are inherently feminist. She digs into the struggle that women have historically navigated to protect their own identities and truths under the weight of immense societal pressure and expectation about the way they are to behave.
“ In the case of ‘Scarlet Letter,’ Kate was also clearly interested in American ‘original sin,’ in guilt, shame and the dangers of repression.”
The upside of community
In a sense, “The Scarlet Letter” is about what happens when there are too few people living in too close quarters in a small town as they begin imposing their wills on each other. And yet the genesis of a new production at Sharon Playhouse this month is very much about the beauty of what can happen in a small town when everyone works together.
Nichols has returned to the Northwest Corner and is now living in Sharon and teaching classes at Sharon Playhouse, in addition to continuing to do television and film work in New York.
Baldwin, who has known her for many years through the Tri-state region theater network, invited her to join the Sharon Playhouse Artistic Committee.
Conversations about what Sharon Playhouse could be, in addition to a beloved center for fun musical theater, led to the idea of doing some staged readings of interesting new work.
Nichols suggested “The Scarlet Letter.” Baldwin contacted Gretchen Mol, who is truly excited to be part of the production — even though she is now working in Los Angeles on a Showtime television version of the 1980s trendsetting film, “American Gigolo.”
She returns home on weekends, and will be Hester Prynne in the staged reading at The Bok at Sharon Playhouse on Saturday, April 16, 7 p.m.
Mol then invited her friend Tim Blake Nelson to join the fun. Nelson is a character actor who has enlivened many films by Joel and Ethan Coen, including the recent “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.”
Baldwin and Nichols recruited two other new Northwest Corner residents to fill out the cast: Sarah Steinmetz and Pun Bandhu.
It perhaps goes without saying that the 100 tickets available for the reading sold out almost immediately. But the success of this first foray into expanding what Sharon Playhouse can offer to the community will definitely inspire future experimental offerings.
Tickets are now available for the 2022 Sharon Playhouse season. Sign up for emails to learn about future special projects at www.sharonplayhouse.org.
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Students dressed in neon lined the soccer field for senior night under the lights on Thursday, Oct. 16. The game against Lakeview was the last in a series of competitions Thursday night in celebration of Homecoming 2025.
As homecoming week reaches its end and fall sports finish out the season, an air of school spirit and student participation seems to be on the rise across Housatonic Valley Regional High School.
But what can be attributed to this sudden peak of student interest? That’s largely due to SGA. Also known as the Student Government Association, SGA has dedicated itself to creating events to bring the entire student body together. This year, they decided to change some traditions.
Spirit week from Oct. 14-17 was unlike those of the previous years. From wearing Housatonic merch to Boomer vs Baby day, this year’s spirit week held a little friendly competition to see which grade could participate the most.
“I think that students are bored of the same old activities and events, so it’s good to switch things up even slightly to incentivize interest within students,” said SGA president and senior Mollie Ford. “Plus the point system is super beneficial because it gives students a reason to participate.”
The school spirit sentiment can be seen outside of just the school. Senior Simon Markow is known for his photography throughout the community, and has dedicated time to help Housy sports teams’ social media posts.
“Since I’ve started photography, I think school attendance [at sports games] has gone up,” Markow said. “I feel this year, students will be more aware of games and are more likely to be at the games.”
Whether it’s a pink-out volleyball game or an under the lights soccer match, it’s likely you’ll see some familiar faces.
Social media has played a large role in this over the years. Almost every student organization at Housatonic has an Instagram account, and it’s helped reach students more efficiently than a poster or email would.
“The increase of social media use, with the help from me but as well as the teams themselves has definitely increased student interest,” Markow said. “With Housy teams posting more about their upcoming games, and my help showing the cool goals, spikes, or touchdowns, it’s enlightened students to watch the games themselves.”
In a small school, promoting pride has proven to be a challenge. But this year’s senior class has made some adjustments in the hopes to change that.
“The SGA community has spent the last few years really focusing on student participation, because we think it’s the students who contribute to a better climate,” Ford said. While Housatonic’s student body may be small in size, it seems they certainly aren’t small in spirit.
The weekend of Homecoming at HVRHS was packed with events including rival games under the lights, senior night, and a new take on Homecoming that moves it outside — and it wouldn’t have been possible without the students of Housatonic.
Orchestrating was no easy feat, especially considering much of the work was left up to the students.
Historically, HVRHS has hosted night games for boys and girls soccer and the GNH football team, but when members of the soccer team asked the athletic director, Anne MacNeil, she left it up to the students to acquire the lights necessary to host a night game.
“I said, ‘Hey, if you can find the lights, we can make it happen,’” MacNeil said. “I usually take control of it, but I really wanted to have the teams have the initiative and take responsibility for it. I think by having them do that, they have a lot more invested in it.”
Finding lights for the game was a challenge in and of itself, and it fell on the students, parents, and alumni to come together if there was to be a night game at all.
Luckily for the players, Patricia and Dino Labbadia, parents of senior Anthony Labaddia, were able to amass the support of the community and get all the necessary equipment donated for the night game.
“We’re fortunate with our communities. Our parents know people in communities and they were able to ask… [and] find the resources,” MacNeil said. “We’ve got a great senior group and senior parent group who have really taken charge … and really made the whole season possible.”
In the end, the night came together spectacularly, and the senior ceremonies, rivalry games, and nighttime fixtures made for a memorable night on the day before Homecoming.
The action began at 4 p.m. Thursday, when the JV Girls Volleyball team played rivals Lakeview High School at home.
At 4:30, the middle school boys soccer team as well as the cross country team faced Northwestern at Housatonic’s lower field and cross country course respectively. Also at 4:30, the JV boys soccer team took on rival Lakeview at Housatonic’s upper field.
At 5:15, the girls varsity volleyball team honored their seniors at Housatonic’s Senior Night ceremony, including captains Katie Crane and Victoria Brooks, before an intense match against Lakeview.
At 6:15, the boys varsity soccer team honored their seniors, including captains Everet Belancik and Abram Kirshner, before kicking off under the lights at Housatonic’s upper field against the Bobcats.
Friday night changes
Typically, Homecoming is hosted in the cafeteria with a DJ and the entire room open as a dance floor. Dancing is the main event, with a small photo op stationed next to one of the exits.
The typical formal dance filled with LED lights and glitter looked a bit different this year. For the HVRHS 2025 Homecoming, the activities all took place outside. There was a large bonfire for students to hang around, a tented area perfect for dancing, and lawn games to play.
The inspiration for this change comes from the Homecoming hosted during the COVID-19 social distancing restrictions put into place at the time. Senior class President Madison Graney said “Other years passed, graduating classes really enjoyed it and we wanted to give it a try.”
Although the theme of Homecoming remains the same, new tasks came in preparation for the event. Including the Bonfire “adds a whole new component,” Graney said. “[We] have to contact the fire department to ensure that the bonfire is being contained.” Hosting the dance outside also demanded “more preparation the day before … set up the tents and make sure it’s a safe and fun space for everyone to enjoy.”
Opinions about Homecoming’s new look vary amongst the student body, with some excited for change and others comfortable with the familiarity of an inside dance. Alexa Meach, an HVRHS senior, expressed that “Everyone that I’ve talked to’s plan is to get dressed up, take photos, and then change into more comfortable clothes because it’s going to be freezing. I feel like we could have had a different event for the bonfire. I think they could have been two separate events.”
Graney said the change is “A really great way to change up the tradition ... [and] another good way to get to know your peers and your teachers and interact with the student body all at once.”
