Fun for the Whole Family in Hole in the Wall Theater’s Still Life With Iris

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The Hole in the Wall Theater (HITW) in New Britain, proudly presents  Still Life with Iris, Steven Dietz’s fantastical and moving play as the fourth show of its’ 2015-2016 season. Performances run Fridays & Saturdays March 25th through April 16th at 8:00pm with two Sunday matinees on April 3rd & 10th at 2:00pm.   Still Life with Iris is directed by Tony Palmieri of New Britain with assistant direction by Katherine Corbett of Plainville. Tickets are $20.00 (General Admission), $15.00 (students & seniors) and free for children, age twelve and under, thanks to a grant from the Long Foundation. Tickets can be purchased at the door and online at www.hitw.org. The April 1st performance will be our Pay-What-You-Can performance where you name the price of your ticket.

“The show is about the identity and strength of the human spirit to endure in the face of adversity,” said Director, Tony Palmieri. “It gets to the heart of who we are at our core, what we retain when our memory is lost, and our ability to use our integrity to find our way home when we are lost.”

Still Life with Iris is the first play for young audiences to receive the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays Award. It is a fantastical adventure centered on a little girl named Iris (Peyton Stehle of Plainville) who is in search for the simplest of things: home. Iris lives with her mom in the land of Nocturno—a magical place in which the workers make, by night, all of the things we see in the world by day.

“Iris learns something very important in this play,” said Peyton. “Love and cherish your family. Always understand the importance of being there and what they are doing for you.”

In Nocturno, memories do not reside in people’s minds but instead are kept in their coats (called ‘Past Coats’). The rulers of Nocturno, the Great Goods, are determined to have the “best” of everything on their island—and, as Iris is particularly adept at finding things, take Iris away from her home and bring her to Great Island to be their daughter. To ease the pain of this separation, they remove her Past Coat, leaving her with no memory of her home or her family. All that remains of Iris’ past is a single button from her coat. Using the button as a clue, Iris joins with friends she meets on her journey—Annabel Lee (a young woman from the sea) and Mozart (a composer) as they search for her lost past. Neo Valentin of New Britain portrays an 11-year old Mozart. He describes him as someone “who has an irrational fear of water. “

“This is a show for the entire family,” said Tony. “It is a show about family; the family we are born with, but also the families that we create as we make our way into the world and begin to forge lives of our own. “

The HITW cast includes: Peyton Stehle & Kelley Mountzoures (both from Plainville), Briana McGuckin, Neo Valentin & Stephanie Layne (all from New Britain), Drew Brathwaite (Manchester), Allison Coney (Burlington), Ian Rothauser (Newington), Roy Donnelly (Farmington), Adam Cormier (Colebrook) and Mairin McKinlay (Cheshire).