Tickets for all shows:  Take Me To Tickets

Connecticut is a wacky, fast-paced, sweet romantic comedy by Mike Reiss who has been making us all laugh for years as a writer with The Simpsons.  Why does sweet, kind Marc struggle to find love?  Because he comes from Connecticut – land of steady habits, sanity and politeness. A must-see comedy for anybody from the Nutmeg State!

I’m Connecticut is Reiss’ first play and it set box-office records at Connecticut Repertory Theater in December 2011.  The Hartford Courant called the romantic comedy “hysterically funny” and named it one of the top ten productions of the year.  It was also named Best Play of 2012 by Broadway World Connecticut.

Tickets are $60 for adults; $55 for seniors; $25 for students of all ages (plus fee) and are available by calling the Playhouse box office at 860.767.7318 or click here to purchase online.

When purchasing online, please make sure you choose the correct ticket price in the drop down list.  Options are Adult, Senior or Student.

Photos by Jonathan Steele

====================================================================

DID YOU KNOW?  Ivoryton Playhouse offers discounted tickets on Thursday nights!  On Thursday nights at 6:00pm, tickets for that night’s 7:30pm performance can be purchased for only $30.  Limit four tickets per person.  Tickets available at the box office only, for that performance only.  Subject to availability. It is a mission of Ivoryton Playhouse to bring affordable, professional, high quality theatre experiences to our community.

====================================================================

.

John Baker* (Mark Twain/Canada) is delighted to be returning to the Ivoryton Playhouse stage, where he made his professional debut, (many years ago) in Godspell.  John has appeared recently in Incident at our Lady of Perpetual Help (Mike, Fr. Lovett, Betty) at the Majestic Theatre in West Springfield, Elf (Santa/Greenway) at the Mill Mountain theatre in Roanoke, VA and The Secret Garden (Ben) at ACT of CT in Ridgefield.  He has toured with The Sound of Music and 42nd Street. Other favorite roles, include Fiddler on the Roof (Tevye), Spamalot (Arthur), Show Boat (Captain Andy), Pirates of Penzance (Samuel), The Rainmaker (File), Cats (Old Deuteronomy), Crazy For You (Everett), Annie Get Your Gun (Charlie), Barefoot in the Park (Victor Velasco) and many, many more. John is a prolific visual artist, propsmaster, and teaching artist. He works regularly with school drama programs, inspiring our young theatre community!  SOCIALS: JohnBakerArts.com. “Safe Home!”

Michael Barra* (Kyle) is thrilled to be back at Ivoryton Playhouse where he made his professional stage debut over 20 years ago in The Comedy Of Errors. Other Ivoryton productions include Jersey Boys, Hairspray, God Bless Us Everyone, Wait Until Dark, and The Mystery Of Edwin Drood. Theater Credits: A Bronx Tale The Musical (Broadway/National Tour), Man Of La Mancha (National Tour), Wait Until Dark (Dorset Theatre Festival), Jersey Boys (Weston Playhouse), The Foreigner (Bristol Riverside Theater), Something Rotten (Franklin Performing Arts Company).  Film/TV –  The Greatest Showman, The Amazing Spider-Man, Gotham, Blue Bloods, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Law & Order: SVU, FBI Most Wanted. Michael can be seen in the upcoming film Red Ink. One of Michael’s proudest achievements is being an answer on his favorite TV show, JEOPARDY! Thanks to my Mom, Dad, and sister BreAnna for their constant love and support. Manager: CLA Partners – Cyd LeVin & Harold Lewter. 

.

Bonnie Black* (Polly/Judith) is delighted to return to Ivoryton Playhouse, where she previously appeared as Ophelia Barnett in Queens of the Golden Mask and Jeanette Fisher in Last of the Red Hot Lovers.  NYC credits: Siggy at the Flea, Pan Asian Rep, Pulse Ensemble Theatre, HB Playwrights Foundation, and Equity Library Theatre, among others.  Selected regional work: Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound at The Old Globe, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Driving Miss Daisy at Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, residency with Adrian Hall’s Trinity Rep, and company memberships with the Alley Theatre and Great Lakes Theatre Festival.  In Connecticut: Seven Angels, Connecticut Rep, Nutmeg Summer Playhouse and, in Simsbury, Centennial Theatre Company.  Television and film include: the documentary Citizen Wong, FBI, Mr. Robot, Law & Order, L&O: CI, and recurring on Loving.  For Richmond.

.

R. Bruce Connelly*(Grandpa) has performed in Burlesque, Vaudeville, Legitimate Theatre, TV and Movies and is now a published author. “Harvey Duckman Presents”, a British anthology of SciFi, Horror and Fantasy stories has just published his 15th short story, one of which, “The Terror of the Seas”, he rewrote for radio, winning the “Best Audio Program” Award last year by the Foundation for the Alliance of Community Radio. On stage,  Bruce has played J.M. Barrie, P.T. Barnum, Max Bialystock, Max Prince, Paddy Bell, Felix Unger, Pseudolus, Willie Clark, Sheridan Whiteside, Uncle Vanya, Murray Burns, Dr. Einstein, Dr.John Watson, Andrew Wyke, Finan McLonergan, Harold Hill, Guildenstern, Trinculo, Bottom, Puck, Feste, Scapino, Roger Sherman, Snoopy, Barkley, Barney Cashman, the Stage Manager, the Man Going Back, the Reverend Crisparkle, the Reverend Mother, the Mule of La Mancha, eight roles in “The Matchmaker”, ten roles in “Greater Tuna”, the Devil, Adam, Jesus, and the man who played God, George Burns.

.

Quinn Corcoran* (Marc) Ivoryton debut! Thrilled to be working again in the state voted most likely to be Connecticut. Off-Broadway: NYC premiere of Pasek & Paul’s James and the Giant Peach (Atlantic Theater Co), Rescue Rue (Daryl Roth), several shows with J2 Spotlight working with Ahrens & Flaherty and John Kander, and a brief stint with the Blue Man Group. Regional: Playhouse on Park, Engeman Theater, Stages St. Louis, Fulton Theatre, and more than a couple trips around sunny Florida. Favorites include: Murder for Two, Elf, Waitress, Legally Blonde, and his grandmother’s favorite- Jersey Boys! SOCIALS:  @quinn.corcoran

.

Kenneth Robert Marlo* (Manager) is excited to make his Ivoryton Playhouse debut! Well-versed in plays and musical theatre, some favorite experiences include appearing Off Broadway in the acclaimed play Dementia Americana as well as across the country in tours of The Little Prince, The Bourgeois Gentleman, and The Miser. On screen he can be seen in the upcoming indie horror feature Killer of the Haunt and the emotional short films She Rides The Ghostbike, See Her, and Toska. As an accomplished Mentalist, Kenneth has dazzled audiences by reading minds and demonstrating impossible connections up close and in his solo show The Thread. These skills also brought him the honor of working closely with a UK legend on his Broadway debut, Derren Brown: Secret, in 2019.
SOCIALS: Instagram via @krobertmarlo or find updates and booking info at KennethRobertMarlo.com.

.

Deanna Ott* (Diane) is very grateful to join the company of I’m Connecticut at Ivoryton Playhouse! Some favorites: National Tour of A Christmas Story; Florida Studio Theater: Troubadour; Dallas Theater Center: Joseph, Hairspray, Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol; Casa Mañana: Rudolph, Matilda, Shrek; Oregon Cabaret Theatre: Chicago, Noises Off, Kinky Boots, C@PRP. Three Seasons at Utah Shakespeare Festival. Much love to M,D,K, and L.  SOCIALS:  deannaott.com 

.

Nathan Szymanski (Ensemble) is thrilled to be making his Ivoryton Playhouse debut! Nathan is Ivoryton born and raised, and graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory with an Acting BFA. Previous credits: Sideshow (Geek and others), Matilda the Musical (Headmistress Trunchbull), CLUE (Professor Plum), and Henry V (Duke of Gloucester). Endless gratitude for the unwavering support from my family and friends!
SOCIALS: Instagram @szy__nathan

.

.

Alexis Trice (Ensemble), a Tolland, CT native, is excited to make her Ivoryton Playhouse debut. Recent credits include Intimate Apparel (Mayme) with Drama Works Theatre Company, Broke-ology (Sonia) with Collective Consciousness Theatre, and A Chorus Line (Judy) with Opera House Players. She has trained in a variety of dance styles at Albano Ballet, the Laurie Nash Center for Dance, and Salsa in Queens. Her acting training includes The Barrow Group, Armstrong Acting Studios, and Hartford Stage.

.

Stephanie Wasser (Ensemble) is thrilled to be back at Ivoryton! Ivoryton credits include: Joseph…Dreamcoat, Jersey Boys, Escape to Margaritaville, South Pacific and All Shook Up. National Tour: Spamalot (Ensemble/ u/s Lady of the Lake). Other favorite regional credits include: The Marvelous Wonderettes (Missy) and Hair (Sheila). BFA MT The Hartt School. She sends her love to the I’m Connecticut team, her family and friends, her husband Sean, and her fur baby Kona. 
SOCIALS: IG: @stephaniejudithh

.

Director:  Jacqueline Hubbard

Stage Manager:  James Joseph Clark*  Ivoryton Playhouse Resident State Manager.  Credits include Long Wharf Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Foote Summer Theater, Synapse Theatre Ensemble, Columbia University, Roebling and Driggs Productions, Yale Opera, The New York Financial Writers’ Association, New Haven Theater Company, Sacred Heart Academy, New Haven Ballet, Fairfield University and the Chancel Opera Company. As lead producer for Brief Cameo Productions, he has directed Ragtime: In Concert, Songs from the Elephant’s Trunk (in collaboration with Ivoryton Playhouse), The Drowsy Chaperone: In Concert, and Side Show: In Concert. All my love to Jeremy, for putting up with a theater maker’s crazy life.

Assistant Stage Manager:  Holly Price* is excited to be part of the stage management team for I’m Connecticut, and to be working with this incredibly talented cast and crew.  She has worked with the Ivoryton Playhouse since 2009 in several roles, including Props Manager, Production Manager, and Assistant Stage Manager.  While there are too many fond memories of shows past to list here, she looks forward to adding more to her collection in the years to come.

Scenic Designer:  Starlett Jacobs

Lighting Designer:  Kyle Stamm

Projections Designer:  John Horzen

Projection Assistant:  Anna Horzen

Sound Designer:  Alan Piotrowicz

Costume Designer:  Sean Spina

Props Master:  Kat Schorn

* member of Actors Equity

.

Michael “Mike” L. Reiss is an American television comedy writer. He served as a show-runner, writer and producer for the animated series The Simpsons and co-created the animated series The Critic. He created and wrote the webtoon Queer Duck and has also worked on screenplays including: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Horton Hears a Who!, The Simpsons Movie and My Life in Ruins.

Reiss was born to a Jewish family in Bristol, Connecticut, United States. The middle child of five, his mother was a local journalist and his father was a doctor. He attended Memorial Boulevard Public School, Thomas Patterson School and Bristol Eastern High School and has stated that he felt like an “outsider” in these places.

Reiss studied at Harvard University. Reiss has stated that, as an institution, he hates Harvard, explaining that “I had an epiphany on my third day there: This place would be just as good as a summer camp where you met other people, networked, and learned from them. I feel the education I got there was distant and useless and uncaring. I feel they sort of squandered my youth and my father’s savings.”  Reiss studied English, but disliked the course and was rejected from a creative writing class.  Reiss focused his attention on comedy, performing in talent shows and writing. In Holworthy Hall at Harvard, Reiss met fellow freshman Al Jean; they befriended one another and collaborated their writing efforts for the humor publication Harvard Lampoon.  Reiss became co-president of the Harvard Lampoon, alongside Jon Vitti.  Jeff Martin, another writer for the Lampoon, said Reiss and Jean “definitely loomed large around the magazine. They were very funny guys and unusually polished comedy writers for that age. We were never surprised that they went on to success.” Jean has also stated that the duo spent most of their time at the Lampoon, adding that “it was practically my second dorm room.”

The humor magazine National Lampoon, hired Jean and Reiss after they graduated in 1981. In the 1980s, the duo began collaborating on various television projects.  During this period Reiss and Jean worked as writers and producers on television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1984–1986), ALF, and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show.

In 1989, Reiss was hired along with Jean as the first members of the original writing staff of the Fox network animated series The Simpsons. He worked on the thirteen episodes of the show’s first season (1989).  They became executive producers and show runners of The Simpsons at the start of the third season (1991).  A show runner has the ultimate responsibility of all the processes that an episode goes through before completion, including the writing, the animation, the voice acting, and the music.  The first episode Jean and Reiss produced was “Mr. Lisa Goes to Washington” (aired September 19, 1991), and they felt a lot of pressure on them to make it good. They were so pressured that they did six to seven rewrites of the script to make it funnier.  Jean said “one reason for doing all these rewrites is because I kept thinking ‘It’s not good enough. It’s not good enough.”  Reiss added that “we were definitely scared. We had never run anything before, and they dumped us on this.”  Jean and Reiss served as show runners until the end of the fourth season (1993). Since the show had already established itself in the first two seasons, they were able to give it more depth during their tenure. Jean believes this is one of the reasons that many fans regard season three and four as the best seasons of The Simpsons.  Sam Simon has stated “The Simpsons wouldn’t have been The Simpsons without [Reiss].” Reiss has won four Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on the show.

They left after season four to create The Critic, an animated show about film critic Jay Sherman (voiced by Jon Lovitz); the show was executive produced by The Simpsons co-developer James L. Brooks.  It was first broadcast on ABC in January 1994 and was well received by critics, but did not catch on with viewers and was put on hiatus after six weeks. It returned in June 1994 and completed airing its initial production run.  For the second season of The Critic, Brooks cut a deal with the Fox network to have the series switch over.

Brooks wanted to have Sherman crossover on to The Simpsons, as a way to promote The Critic’s move to Fox. Sherman appeared in the episode “A Star is Burns”, which Reiss and Jean returned to produce. The Simpsons‘ creator Matt Groening was not fond of the crossover and complained publicly that it was just a thirty-minute advert for The Critic. Brooks said, “for years, Al and Mike were two guys who worked their hearts out on this show, staying up until 4 in the morning to get it right. The point is, Matt’s name has been on Mike’s and Al’s scripts and he has taken plenty of credit for a lot of their great work. In fact, he is the direct beneficiary of their work. The Critic is their shot and he should be giving them his support.” Reiss stated that he was a “little upset” by Groening’s actions and that “this taints everything at the last minute. […] This episode doesn’t say ‘Watch The Critic’ all over it.”  Jean added “What bothers me about all of this, is that now people may get the impression that this Simpsons episode is less than good. It stands on its own even if ‘The Critic’ never existed.” On Fox, The Critic was again short-lived, broadcasting ten episodes before its cancellation.  A total of 23 episodes were produced, and it returned briefly in 2000 with a series of ten internet broadcast webisodes. The series has since developed a cult following thanks to reruns on Comedy Central and its complete series release on DVD.

In 1994, Reiss and Jean signed a three-year deal with The Walt Disney Company to produce other TV shows for ABC. The duo created and executive produced Teen Angel, which was canceled in its first season in 1997. Reiss said “It was so compromised and overworked. I had 11 executives full-time telling me how to do my job.” This was the only project created under their contract which was broadcast.

The pair periodically returned to work on The Simpsons. In addition to “A Star is Burns”, they produced “‘Round Springfield” for season six; both episodes were written with the aid of their fellow writers from The Critic.  While under contract at Disney they produced two episodes of season eight: “The Springfield Files” and “Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious”, and two of season nine: “Lisa’s Sax” and “Simpson Tide”. When Jean returned to The Simpsons permanently as showrunner from season thirteen, Reiss returned part-time as a consultant and producer, flying to Los Angeles one day a week to attend story meetings and contribute to the writing process. He also co-wrote the screenplay for The Simpsons Movie in 2007.

.

Check back here for photos and video clips!

=================================================

Ivoryton Playhouse 2026 Season Starts with Hilarious Comedy, I’m Connecticut.
The 2026 Season Opens on March 26th

Ivoryton Playhouse kicks off its 2026 season with the new comedy I’m Connecticut by Emmy-winning writer Mike Reiss (The Simpsons), running March 26 through April 19. A fast-paced romantic comedy filled with sharp wit and affectionate satire, the play takes a playful look at identity, relationships, and the quirks that make Connecticut and its residents unique.

The story follows Marc, a mild-mannered scientist from Connecticut who moves to New York City in search of love and excitement. Along the way, he encounters speed dating disasters, cultural misunderstandings, and a series of hilariously awkward situations that force him to confront who he really is. With lively storytelling and direct audience engagement, the play blends romantic comedy with clever commentary about hometown pride and self-discovery.

“This year we’re celebrating America and the 250 years since the birth of our nation. We thought what better way to begin the season than by celebrating our own state?” said Hubbard. “I’m Connecticut is a hysterical and loving look at what makes Connecticut residents who we are: our humor, our history, and our wonderfully peculiar habits.”

The production features a lively cast of performers bringing Mike Reiss’s comic characters to life. Quinn Corcoran* stars as Marc, whose search for love sparks the play’s whirlwind of events. He is joined by Bruce Connelly* as Grandpa, Bonnie Black* as Polly and Judith, Michael Barra* as Kyle, Deanna Ott* as Diane, Kenneth Robert Marlo* as the Manager, and John C. Baker* as Twain and Canada. The ensemble includes Stephanie Wasser, Alexis Trice, and Nathan Szymanski, who portray multiple roles throughout the play.

Behind the scenes, a talented creative team helps bring the story’s fast-moving comedy and imaginative staging to life. The production is directed by Jacqui Hubbard, with scenic design by Starlet Jacobs, lighting design by Kyle Stamm, costume design by Sean Spina, projections by John Horzen (assisted by Anna Horzen), and props design by Kat Schorn. The production’s sound environment is shaped by Alan Piotrowitz, sound designer, with Brian Salvia serving as audio engineer.

The production runs March 26 through April 19, 2026, at Ivoryton Playhouse: 103 Main Street, Ivoryton, CT.

Tickets are available at ivorytonplayhouse.org or by calling the Box Office at 860.767.7318.

SHOWTIMES:
• Wednesdays at 2 pm (No matinee on Wednesday of opening week)
• Thursdays at 2 pm and 7:30 pm
• Fridays at 7:30 pm
• Saturdays at 2 pm and 7:30 pm (No matinee on Saturday of opening week)
• Sundays at 2 pm

With its quick pace, clever humor, and heartfelt moments, I’m Connecticut celebrates the sometimes-overlooked charm of the Constitution State. Audiences will recognize themselves in the characters’ struggles to balance where they come from with who they hope to be.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

For more information, interviews, and press inquiries, please contact:
Ben Hope, Executive Producer – ben@ivorytonplayhouse.org

Photos courtesy of Jonathan Steele

For press tickets, please contact:
Susan McCann – susanmc@ivorytonplayhouse.org

About Ivoryton Playhouse: Ivoryton Playhouse is a renowned small professional theater in the Shoreline Region of Connecticut. It is known for its exceptional productions and commitment to creating unforgettable experiences for audiences of all ages.

Looking for something to do? Ivoryton Playhouse has been voted best place to see live theatre by readers of The Shoreline Times for three years in a row. Come to Essex and visit our historic, professional theatre – a Connecticut treasure!