Farmington Valley Stage Company Plans First Season

The Farmington Valley Stage Company, a nonprofity group "the first professional quality, resident community theater to come to the Farmington Valley," will soon take the stage at Canton Town Hall.

The group, which formerly operated as the Park Road Playhouse, chose the recently renovated theater to call home and the Canton Board of Selectmen recently gave its approval.

“It’s a great add on to getting more people to Collinsville,” Canton First Selectman Richard Barlow said. “I think it’s going to help the businesses down there.”

According to an "anticipated schedule" given to the town, the company is planning for five productions between July 1, 2012 and June 30, 2013, the term the initial agreement would cover.

While another theater company currently uses town hall, its productions have been limited. The Farmington Valley Stage Company plans on doing much more, as groups did many years ago, officials said. 

“As you will recognize, it is a much more intensive use of the auditorium than at any time in recent years,” Skinner wrote in a memo to selectmen.

In the memo, he also stated the company’s previous production had a charitable component, and would be interested in “similar events in Collinsville.”

The license agreement would also allow the company access to the auditorium for rehearsals, saving it the cost of paying for a town custodian for those times, which it would have to do for performances.

Under the agreement, the company would pay approximately $700 per month but the town retains the right to charge extra if it incurs more costs. The agreement also sets other parameters. 

Farmington's Ron Faibusch is business manager of the Farmington Vally Stage Company, and said the agreement will give the company a great new home while also benefitting Collinsville.

According to a press release sent to Patch, on Sept. 14, the company will open with Arthur Miller’s The Price, the first of a five-show season. This will be followed by Paul Rudnick’s Regrets Only; Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize Winning Dinner With Friends; Victor Cahn’s Embraceable Me; and Shelagh Stephenson’s The Memory of Water.

When the company operated as the Park Road Playhouse, it produced both contemporary and classic plays. It will offer cost-saving subscriptions, according to the release. 

More information will be made available shortly at www.fvstage.org. The site will include participation and sponsorship opportunities.