On October 6 we debut at an amazing facility right down the road on Beach Road in Fairfield. It's the brand new Fairfield Museum. If you haven't been there, you'll be blown away when you do wander through. It's nothing rinky dink, I swear. Our storytelling is the Awake After Dark program we've done so successfully elsewhere. And for this special place, it's called Stories on the Green. Fairfield was the original town that gave life to Westport, and to all of the other towns around that are called Fairfield County. For reasons that defy my logic for living in New England (with attitude) we don't have "Greens" like the one that was left in tact in Fairfield. They also have sidewalks.
The Green is where all of the "stories" could be heard during the days before no telephones, cars, etc. You walked on the Green and you met folks you wanted to talk to. Or folks you didn't want to talk to...but they were there in the wide open public space. You read the Town Crier information posted on a board on the Green, before newspapers. You heard "Hear Ye, Hear Ye," and you could know who was in the jail for the night--- drunk and disorderly. Maybe it was me?
The exhibit that is going up at FMHC on September 24th is all about the development of performance theater after the railroad came barreling up the road from Altoona or even New York and into Fairfield County. It's called "BRAVO! A Century of Theatre in Fairfield County" The FMHC is actually building sets of the real Westport Country Playhouse, Lucille Lortel Barn and the famed, but now defunct, (we hope not forever) Shakespeare in Stratford CT.
The first play we decided to highlight from the incredible archives going into this museum for in our storytelling series is, "Our Town," by Thornton Wilder. But we are calling for themes about your little town, even if it's a big city.
In your neighborhood, your town, there may have been rumors about the people at the end of the block, there are always the kindly old couples who walk by everyday. You may have been the high school hero, or the one who went to reform school. Who knows? As Paul Simon wrote, "In my little town/I grew up believing god shines his light on us all/ as I pledged allegiance to the wall." Where did you say the pledge of allegiance. We want to know. Give us a buzz or shoot us an email and let's hear about your town, foreign or next door.
Why you stayed? Why you strayed?
