Strategic Pillars
- Expand Programming. Increase offerings with two mainstage productions, the Connecticut Short Play Festival, an annual commission, and workshops to fulfill our mission of making new theatre.
- Strengthen the Brand. Deepen community connections and grow audiences with city-wide campaigns, targeted media, and dedicated audience engagement roles.
- Ensure Financial Sustainability. Launch an endowment campaign in 2025 with the goal of raising $1 million over five years to secure a sustainable financial foundation. The campaign will be led by the Executive Director, with support from a part-time Development Director starting in 2027, focused on securing grants and cultivating major donors. These efforts will diversify revenue streams and ensure the company’s long-term sustainability.
- Enhance Organizational Capacity.
In addition to production and project-based staff, we will strengthen our organizational capacity by investing in key roles, including an Audience Development Manager, Social Media Manager, and Development Director, to bolster our marketing, audience engagement, and fundraising efforts. This approach will ensure we have the expertise needed to achieve our strategic goals. - Elevate our Impact. By fostering partnerships and being part of broader cultural and economic initiatives, we aim to position Thrown Stone as a vital cultural resource and a recognized leader in new play development both regionally and nationally.
The Crystal Theatre
Located at 66 Bayview Avenue, the Crystal Theatre offers unmatched accessibility and convenience. Just steps from the SoNo Train Station with direct access to New York City, ample free parking, and a quick 25-minute drive from Ridgefield, it’s an ideal venue for audiences across the region.
With 232 seats and an ultra-wide stage, the Crystal Theatre provides comfort and outstanding sight lines, perfect for showcasing bold new work. South Norwalk’s vibrant dining and nightlife, just a ten-minute walk away, makes every visit a memorable experience.
For over 30 years, the Crystal Theatre has been a beloved children’s and community theatre. Thrown Stone rounds out its offering with a professional resident company, enriching South Norwalk’s cultural landscape and creating a dynamic destination for theatre lovers.
Last September, we held a second workshop of Phanésia Pharel’s The Waterfall in collaboration with WP Theater and Keeler Tavern Museum, directed by Obie-winner Taylor Reynolds and starring Magaly Colimon and Leovina Charles. The play made great strides in this latest round of work and was profoundly resonant with our invited audience.
Tlaloc Rivas, a board member of the New Harmony Theatre Project, was in attendance, and shortly after the workshop Thrown Stone was invited by New Harmony to participate in its prestigious Production in Residence (PIR) program in May 2025.
The PIR program brings together a select group of theatres in New Harmony, Indiana, to help set new works up for success in production. Thrown Stone’s inclusion highlights our growing role among the national leaders in new play development.
The PIR program will provide invaluable dramaturgical resources and support in a new workshop and public reading to prepare The Waterfall for production. This initiative underscores our dedication to shepherding new work from commission to development to production and the value of our growing cohort of partners throughout the country.
More importantly, this opportunity is a celebration of our special relationship with Phanésia Pharel, whom Thrown Stone audiences will remember as the author of Should We Dance Instead? which performed at the West Lane Inn as part of our 2021 The Suburbs season and highlighted the recently uncovered history of Ridgefield residents Ned and Betsy Armstrong, who conducted a stop on the Underground Railroad. Phanésia returned in 2022 as our inaugural 068 Magazine Playwriting Fellow, where she first conceived of what was to become The Waterfall.
Fool’s Paradise
Two couples embark on the getaway of a lifetime at an opulent Caribbean resort, when a sudden emergency derails their plans. As the situation unfolds, rifts in worldview threaten their bonds of friendship, their self-conception, and ultimately, their survival.
May 1-10, 2024
After 25 dynamic years as a performer, director, and producer, Thrown Stone Co-Artistic Director Jonathan Winn brings his creative vision to playwriting with Fools’ Paradise, a blistering and hilarious satire about indulgence, wishful thinking, and finding one’s purpose in the most challenging circumstances imaginable.
The Good District
A fractured family squats in a wealthy beachfront home to give 13-year-old Alisha a chance at a better life in an elite school. As Alisha’s academic success stirs suspicion among her teachers and peers, the family’s precarious situation begins to unravel.
November 6-16, 2024
Thrown Stone audiences will remember Tony Meneses as the author of The Caterers, which performed at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in The Suburbs season back in 2021. The Good District is a heartfelt family drama that asks how far we’re willing to go to give our children the future they deserve.
A New Commission
Following the success of Seven Cousins for a Horse by Tammy Ryan in 2023, Thrown Stone has awarded its 2025 commission to Ramón Esquivel for Show Me the Gates of Heaven. This year’s commission explores persuasion — how people shape, challenge, and reinforce their beliefs. Selected from over 150 submissions, Esquivel’s proposed play examines what happens when opposing worldviews collide in isolation, forcing two people to confront whether understanding is possible or if some chasms are too vast to cross.
CT Short Play Fest
Launching in August, the CT Short Play Fest celebrates innovation, experimentation, and the joy of discovery. Open to playwrights throughout the region, the festival invites writers to create 10-minute plays that align with our mission.
The festival’s two-session format creates a unique mentorship model, where teen and early-career playwrights present their work in the afternoon, receiving feedback from industry professionals. The winner advances to an evening session to learn from and compete with working playwrights for top festival honors.
SPRING 2026
THE WATERFALL
by Phanésia Pharel
Directed by Taylor Reynolds
OFF-BROADWAY
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