From “Wizard of Oz” to “Joy in the Morning”

By Christopher Sinclair

The cast of “Joy In The Morning,” lucky to have acted in Bruce Connelly productions since they were fourth graders. Photo by Shelley Harms.

Norfolk has long been a woodland bastion of the arts. From the world famous music shed, to the library, to the life drawing classes and exhibitions in the art barn of the Battell Stoeckel Estate, to the many local artists and writers, Norfolk has a remarkable number of artistic institutions and individuals given the rather diminutive size of the population.

Equally remarkable, though somewhat lesser known, are the artistic endeavors undertaken by R. Bruce Connelly and a host of young local actors. An actor, director, and “muppeteer,” Connelly stars as Barkley the Sheepdog on Sesame Street. More than ten years ago, Connelly started coming up from his home in Manhattan to Norfolk to direct plays, many of his own adaptation, at Botelle Elementary School during the winter and in the Chapel of the Congregational Church during the summer. During that span he and his actors have engaged with works including “The Hobbit,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Peter Pan,” “Oliver Twist,” “Through the Looking-glass,” “Tom Sawyer” and the latest, P.G. Wodehouse’s “Joy in the Morning,” to name a few.

Connelly, whose work in Norfolk is sponsored by the Battell Arts Foundation, has developed a strong bond with both the young actors of the community and the town itself. When asked about Norfolk and the arts, Bruce commented that “The kind of support of the arts that you find in Norfolk, particularly for the kids, is rare. You just don’t find that everywhere.” Bruce also expressed deep thanks to those who have supported him personally during his time here, particularly Liz Allen and Michael Sinclair and his family, for their help in everything from picking him up at the train station to seeing to it that he was well fed.

Many of the young actors with whom Bruce worked in this past July’s production of Joy in the Morning he has been working with in some capacity for years. “They’re such a strong, tightly knit group, and they genuinely like each other,” Bruce said of his crew of “regulars.” The fact that this group of young actors has remained largely intact over the years has allowed Bruce to seek out ever more daunting challenges. “They inspire me to go back to the library and seek out more complex material,” Bruce said, noting that this past summer’s performance of Wodehouse’s intricately plotted farcical satire was “handled beautifully” by a group with a median age of fifteen, who rehearsed together for only two short weeks. This continuity has also allowed for both Bruce and his actors to become familiar with the rather peculiar spaces in which they must work, namely the Chapel of the Congregational Church. “The space in the Chapel lends itself well to theater in the round,” said Bruce. This space offers a novel challenge to many of the actors who are accustomed to working on a more traditional stage, yet by this summer Bruce said that he “didn’t have to explain to anybody how to work in that space. They just know.” Anybody who was fortunate enough to attend this summer’s production was undoubtedly struck by the ease and comfort with which all of the actors moved around the space, an exercise in precise, mazelike blocking.

While other high school age kids across the country may scoff at live theater and dismiss it as antiquated, Norfolk youths give way to no such false and baseless perceptions, and embrace the unique beauty and challenge of the theater. Under Connelly’s guidance and instruction they have lost themselves in works they otherwise would never have encountered, practiced discipline and exercised creativity in rehearsal, and formed a small community within their community that has strengthened old friendships and helped to forge new ones. Many Norfolk teens who go on to act in plays at Northwestern Regional include “thanks to Mr. Connelly” in their section of the playbill, and they are the envy of their peers from other towns for the opportunities they have had to work with him. They also trek to Ivoryton and Waterbury when Connelly is appearing in Connecticut, in classics such as “The Producers,” where he played Max Bialystock. Norfolk’s young actors, along with all local supporters of the arts, sincerely hope that Bruce Connelly and local youths will continue to explore, create, and perform for years to come.