NVCC will host city’s largest ‘Big Read’ performance on April 27, an evening of dance, theater

On April 27, NVCC will host the largest performance associated with the citywide ‘Big Read’ program, which encourages all city residents to read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ The performance will include, from top to bottom, Naomi Lee as Scout, Douglas Sobon as Atticus Finch and Mark Gardner as Tom Robinson.

WATERBURY (April 12, 2007) — On April 27, as many as 100 students will take part in “It’s a Sin to Kill a Mockingbird,” an evening of dance and theater at Naugatuck Valley Community College that will be the largest performance associated with “The Big Read,” a six-week, citywide literacy program.

The 8 p.m. event in NVCC’s Mainstage theater will feature eight local dance companies together with NVCC theater and dance students, making it the biggest ensemble performance ever produced at NVCC.

The Big Read is a program funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts to promote literacy with the reading and discussion of a single book in communities across the country. With coordination from the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury chose to read Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and planned a series of events in March, April and May centered on the book.

The NVCC event on April 27 will include performances inspired by, or directly related to the book, including:

• NVCC students performing “It’s a Sin to Kill a Mockingbird,” an original dramatic work written by NVCC Associate Theater Professor Ed Wierzbicki and choreographed by NVCC Department of the Arts Chair Elena Rusnak;
  
• The Taft Dancers from Taft School in Watertown performing “Village Commons” and “On the Altar”;
  
• The Westover Dance Ensemble from Westover School in Middlebury performing “Tangled Web”;
  
• The Unity Dance Ensemble from Waterbury performing “I Will Not Be Moved”;
  
• The Tehilla dancers from Waterbury performing “Pass the Plate”;
  
• The Woodbury Ballet Company performing “Strange Fruit”;
  
• The Kiva Dance Collective from Waterbury performing “Legacy” with the Westover Dance Ensemble;
  
• The Diversity of Dance ensemble from Waterbury performing “Road of Memory” and “From This Ground…”; and,
  
• The Brass City Ballet from Waterbury performing “Chiffarobe Waltz.”
  

On April 27, NVCC will host the largest performance associated with the citywide ‘Big Read’ program, which encourages all city residents to read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ The performance will include, from left to right: Lauren Murray as Mrs. Merriweather; Melissa Smith as Miss Maudie; Stephanie Martus as Aunt Alexandra; Christopher Stokes as Sheriff Heck Tate; and Kadie Tolderlund as Miss Stephanie.

The NVCC Gospel Choir will also perform in the lobby prior to the curtain rising.

Rusnak said the NVCC dancers and actors were asked to either read “To Kill a Mockingbird” or see the movie as part of their preparation for the event.

“As a result, I think the students have gained a much better understanding of the racial and societal issues of the time,” Rusnak said. “Their scenes call for the dancers to be separated by race, which has helped them begin to experience the kinds of tensions that existed in the Depression-era South.”

NVCC’s Mainstage theater is located in the Fine Arts Center on its main campus at 750 Chase Parkway, Waterbury. A suggested donation of $10 will be collected at the door and proceeds will go toward an arts scholarship for a Waterbury high school student. For information, call (203) 575-8179.