Local Stars Shine Again in Mystery Dinner Theatre for Naugatuck Valley Community College

"From left to right: Stephen Briotti, Sen. Joan Hartley, Tom Chute, Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Rep. Selim Noujaim, Mary Rosengrant Chiappalone and Tony Murvin. Missing: Steve Gambini.

Waterbury, Conn. – State Senator Joan Hartley and State Representative Selim Noujaim are just two of the well-known local leaders who will debut their acting talents at the Fifth Annual Naugatuck Valley Community College Foundation Mystery Dinner Theatre. The cast has come together to help raise funds for the campus’s new Technology Hall and other projects.

This year’s show, “Mystery Rides Again,” will take place at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 4, at the Grand Oak Villa, 550 Sylvan Lake Road, Watertown. The event will feature the performance, dinner and a silent auction.

WATR 1320-AM radio personality Tom Chute will produce and direct this year’s wild west mystery about a showdown at the “I'm O.K. You're O.K. Corral.” The audience will become “patrons” at Miss Liddy's saloon and help solve the “whodunit.” Hartley and Noujaim will be joined on stage by fellow “celebrity” cast members:

• Stephen Briotti, regional president of Century 21Access America  
• Mary Rosengrant Chiappalone, partner at Biondi & Rosengrant, LLC
• Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D., president of Naugatuck Valley Community College
• Steve Gambini, mayoral aide for the city of Waterbury
• Tony Murvin, program director of Shakesperience Productions, Inc.  

This year’s lead sponsors are Naugatuck Savings Bank, Cly-Del and M.J. Fahy & Sons, Inc.  Other major sponsors include Help Unlimited, Inc., Naugatuck Window and Glass, Palace Theater, Ultimate Services Professional Grounds Management, Inc. and LaBonne’s Markets.

Reservations can be made until March 23. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased by calling (203)575-8045.

For more information about the NVCC Foundation, contact Waldemar Kostrzewa, dean of community engagement, at (203)575-8297 or wkostrzewa@nvcc.commnet.edu.