'Learning Experience' to Return to Phoenix Stage YouTube

Naugatuck CT

11 January, 2021

8:00 PM

Description

TORRINGTON, CT – ZeeLand Productions, LLC and Phoenix Stage Company of Oakville, CT will revive the play Learning Experience written by John Long of Torrington, CT. The production video will be on Phoenix Stage Company's YouTube Channel starting on January 16 and will have an open run. The initial play presentation in October was a successful fundraising event for Phoenix Stage Company. As the pandemic continues and theaters remain closed, Learning Experience is vital and relevant theater that responds to our recent experience in an online format. Joanne Greco Rochman of the Waterbury Republican-American newspaper wrote about the first presentation in October of 2020, "The script is terrific. It's honest and full of issues that people of various ages, young and old, have experienced during this COVID-19 era." Learning Experience explores individual experiences of living in quarantine during the pandemic in the first half of 2020. Eight people from different walks of life tell their stories in the form of monologues to be posted online. The stories reveal what their lives were before the pandemic and how they've changed during isolation. Some characters work from home, some go into work, some don't work at all. They range in age from eighteen to seventies and all are motivated to share a learning experience online to communicate with people they will never meet or know. By turns moving and humorous, these characters share a desire to continue living, learning, laughing and growing in a time of crisis that effects everyone. For this new presentation, viewers will be asked to consider making a donation to Phoenix Stage Company or any theater they wish to support. Nonprofit organizations such as community theaters, libraries or educational institutions are invited to use the play as a vehicle to raise funds, reach new audiences or stimulate discussions about the many issues that have resulted from the pandemic. The video production of Learning Experience is directed by Drew Scott, and monologues are performed by Tori Richnavsky, Beth Steinberg, Chris Evans, Sheila Garrison, Dan Willey, Killian Meehan, Kate Stango and Rob Richnavsky. The production can be accessed by visiting www.phoenixstagecompany.org and using the link provided or by visiting the Phoenix Stage Company Youtube channel. John Long is a playwright whose plays have been produced at Ensemble Studio Theatre, and Seventh Sign Theatre in New York City as well as the Alliance Theatre, Little Theatre Workshop, and Warner Studio Theatre in Connecticut.