A six performance encore engagement of HartBeat Ensemble’s acclaimed production of Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing, will open next month at Trinity College.
Playwright and director Talvin Wilks’ poetic and political play focuses on the friendship between two groundbreaking Black American writers and activists, Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin. The production will be staged in the Goodwin Theater located in Trinity College’s Austin Arts Center from October 10 through October 19.
Jimmy and Lorraine: A Musing is a meditation on the American political climate of the late 50s and early 60s through the lens of two significant artists of the time, Baldwin and Hansberry, performed by Jon-Michael Reese and Vanessa R. Butler. Nick Roesler rounds out the cast playing various roles including Robert F. Kennedy, Norman Mailer, and Robert Nemiroff.
Following their impactful careers as artists, their call to social activism and the challenges of wrestling with the balance of an artistic career and politics, the lives of Baldwin and Hansberry provide an opportunity to look at a rich period of political and social upheaval.
Using text from biographies, journals, personal correspondences, plays, novels, interviews, essays, and media clips, a picture emerges. Hansberry and Baldwin were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, but both had arrived through their art and reflected efforts to depict and grapple with the complex lives of African Americans in American society.
“We are looking forward to reintroducing Jimmy and Lorraine, a production that has become a signature achievement in the history of HartBeat Ensemble,” says HartBeat Ensemble Artistic Director Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. “This smart, challenging and lyrical play is a powerful window into two of the greatest Black artists of the 20th century.”
Brian Jennings returns as director having staged HartBeat’s original 2016 production at its Carriage House Theatre in Hartford and its subsequent revival at the University of Saint Joseph. The production team includes Lynne Porter, scenic design; Margo Caddell, lighting design; Vilinda McGregor costume design; Andrew Reardon, projection design; and Kristen L. Kingley, production stage manager. HartBeat Ensemble is led Simmons and Managing Director Rhoda Cerritelli.
Jimmy and Lorraine is supported in part by Austin Arts Center and Trinity College, J. Walton Bissell Foundation, Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of the Arts, Greater Hartford Council for the Arts, The Roberts Foundation and Travelers.
The play was originally produced by HartBeat Ensemble in 2016 at the Carriage House Theater in Hartford and revived at the University of Saint Joseph, the Ko Festival at Amherst, and The Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis.
Performances of Jimmy and Lorraine will follow a two-week guest artist residency at Austin Arts Center where Hartbeat Ensemble’s creative team will rehearse on campus and share its process with students and the wider community.
The production is 90 minutes with no intermission. The performance schedule is as follows: Thursday, October 10 at 7:30pm; Saturday, October 12 at 7:30pm; Thursday, October 17 at 2:00 p.m.; Friday, October 18 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, October 19 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Putting the community first, tickets are free, but advance reservations are required. Tickets can be reserved online through Trinity College box office or Hartbeat Ensemble. The production kicks off HartBeat Ensemble’s James Baldwin Centennial Season that will continue with Kyle Bass’ Citizen James in early 2025.
