What We Learned from the Season that Never Was
In a year marked by the devastation of COVID-19, a national reckoning on racial justice, global environmental and economic catastrophe, and a cultural divide that threatens to tear apart the fabric of society, the activity of a little new-works theatre company in a small Connecticut town feels insignificant. After all, what can we do in the face of such intractable crises?
Jason Peck and Jonathan WinnAmmi: Reframing America
In July, we announced the Daniel E. Offutt III Charitable Trust awarded Thrown Stone a grant to commission a new play about Ammi Phillips (1788-1865). Ammi Phillips worked as a traveling portrait painter throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York in the early 1800s. We first learned about him on Searching For The Lost Limner, an episode of Davis Dunavin’s Off The Path podcast, which explored the fascinating story of how his legacy as one of the most prolific folk painters of his time was uncovered.
Just as fascinating was the world Ammi lived in, bookended by the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. His life coincided with the gradual abolition of slavery in Connecticut between 1784 and 1848 — a time of massive change in America. His story invites us to reflect on the great changes facing us today, in the same region, two centuries later.
We chose award-winning playwright and previous Thrown Stone collaborator, Jacqueline Goldfinger (The Arsonists, 2018), for the project. Jacqui’s plays are complex tapestries of the American experience. Her characters are everyday, often overlooked Americans, whose struggles we connect with, while acknowledging their problematic legacies.
The commission was recently profiled by the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut in their The Arts Are Greater Than campaign:
Work on the new play will begin in January 2021. Workshops and public readings will be held in October of that year in collaboration with noted Ammi Phillips historian and collector Barbara Holdridge, the Ridgefield Library, Keeler Tavern Museum and History Center, Ridgefield Historical Society, Kent Historical Society, and other local organizations. The American Folk Art Museum, whose collection includes several works by Phillips, will be working with Thrown Stone in an advisory capacity for the play. We look forward to inviting you to take part in the development of this new play.
Playwright Jacqueline Goldfinger
Portrait of Rhoda Goodrich (Mrs. William Northrop) Bentley and Daughter. Ammi Phillips; New York, 1815-1820
Portrait of George C. Sunderland (detail). Ammi Phillips, Somers, New York; 1840
Blond Boy with Primer and Peach and Dog (Detail). Ammi Phillips c. 1836
This fall, as it became clear that widespread COVID-19 vaccinations would not be complete until the late summer months of 2021, we had to face the possibility that a season of indoor theatre would not be safe or practicable. It was crucial to find another way to connect with our audience. Just as important was our renewed commitment to achieve diverse representation in our board, staff, and offering. With these imperatives in mind, we enlisted the support of our local partners and devised a plan to meet the palpable need we feel as citizens and neighbors to come together to write our next chapter.
Thrown Stone’s 2021 season will consist of three world premieres to be performed at three outdoor locations in Ridgefield, August 26 – September 12, 2021. The plays will be commissioned as short, site-specific works to be performed in sequence at Keeler Tavern Museum, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, and West Lane Inn as a single “roving production” (where the audience follows the action from location to location). Three playwrights have been selected to explore the theme of The Suburbs: Tony Meneses, Phanésia Pharel, and Catherine Yu. Kholoud Sawaf has been selected to direct.
Thrown Stone’s 2021 programming will engage our region with a bold new theatrical experience that centers BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) work and stories, while doing so in a format that is 100% compliant with public health guidelines.
Keeler Tavern Museum & History Center
The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art
The West Lane Inn
About the Director
Meet Associate Producer Kimberly Wilson
SEASON UNDERWRITERS
Thrown Stone thanks 2021 Season Underwriters, The Leir Foundation and the Daniel E. Offutt III Charitable Trust for their generous and visionary support of new theatre.
ACCESSIBILITY
As we continue to evolve and grow, we are committed to expanding the way we think about accessibility across all our activities. In 2021, with support from the Offutt Charitable Trust, all regular performance tickets will be subsidized to $39; and preview tickets will subsidized to $20. To help make the production accessible for people of all abilities, a $20 closed-captioned digital version will also be offered.
| A | In-Kind Donations | $35,600 |
| B | Donations and Grants | $171,700 |
| C | Ticket Sales, Concessions, Other | $5,300 |
| Total | $212,600 |
| A | Production, Space Rental, Marketing | $54,800 |
| B | Artist and Other Salaries | $84,000 |
| C | Commissions & Licensing | $50,700 |
| D | Development | $9,500 |
| E | General Operating | $4,600 |
| Total | $203,600 |
FROM THE PLAYWRIGHTS
“Working with Thrown Stone was a fantastic experience for me. They reached out, took a risk, and I’m deeply grateful for the connection they made with a fellow artist far away.” — Ross Dunsmore, Milk, 2017
“I wish that all theaters were as exuberant and innovative as Thrown Stone. They understand that both today’s audiences and the future of the American theatre rest on producing a wide-range of new work that exemplifies the breadth, depth, and spirit of the American experience.” — Jacqueline Goldfinger, The Arsonists, 2018
“I am so grateful for my experience with Thrown Stone. The whole performance was a dream. I was thrilled with the level of talent they were able to bring in, from the set design to the actors. They really tried to find ways to make the production benefit the writer, and they saw the script to its fullest vision.” — Karina Cochran, Where All Good Rabbits Go, 2018
“Thrown Stone is an incredibly dedicated group of artists who champion complex, vital new work. I was so honored to have a play in their season, and although I live far from Connecticut, I felt very included in the process and production. Every writer should send them plays!” — Anna Moench, Birds of North America, 2019
“Jason and Jonathan clearly create an environment that demands integrity, and it shows: Thrown Stone has quickly established itself as a true playwright’s theater, where today’s playwrights WANT to be programmed. I am very grateful to Thrown Stone for having me, and I’ll be very eager to work with them again!” — Molly Smith Metzler, Cry It Out, 2019