Get Your Tickets For Avon Theater Group's Inaugural Show

Playhouse 44

AVON, CT — Tickets are on sale for a new Avon-based theater group's first-ever show, and, for the price of one show, guests next month will be able to enjoy nine.

Playhouse 44, a brand-new community theater group, is debuting in August with a series of 10-minute plays on the Avon High School stage. Collectively the program is called "9 Tens on 44."

The man behind Playhouse 44 is journalist and author Joel Samberg, who moved to Avon in 2010.

That's when he asked around and learned there was no community theater in the 23-square-mile, 18,000-resident town in the Farmington Valley.

An out-of-business cider mill in an old 1918 barn on Waterville Road, not far from his new house, struck him as the perfect place for a new amateur, all-volunteer theater group.

“Well, before I actually put any plan in motion, the cider mill was raised, the Reggio Magnet School of the Arts was built in its place, and I put the community theater dream aside,” said Samberg, who is the "Off Ramp" humor columnist for Connecticut Magazine. “Today, we may not have the barn, but we do have a theater group, a production, and a place to put it on.”

The plays, by turns funny, quirky, tender, and thought-provoking, are all written by Connecticut residents past and present—including famed New Yorker short story writer and cartoonist James Thurber ("Mr. Preble Gets Rid of His Wife"); award-winning WTNH news anchor Dennis House ("The Politics of Modern Family Life"); and mystery novelist and former Mintz + Hoke Chief Executive Officer Chris Knopf ("The Play's the Thing").

Both House and Knopf wrote their short plays exclusively for Playhouse 44.

“Many people told me that creating a not-for-profit theatre organization in these post-pandemic times would be incredibly difficult,” said Samberg, who admits he stubbornly dismissed their warnings.

“Guess what. They were right. It was difficult. We had one roadblock and speed bump after another. It was dizzying. But over the last two years, a small group of enthusiastic, like-minded people persevered.

"We’re small, we’re grassroots, we’re shoestring, but we’re motivated, dedicated, and maybe even a little crazy from time to time. And we’ve put together what we believe will be a very enjoyable evening of live theater.”

The production will be performed in the Avon High School auditorium, 510 W. Avon Road, Avon, on Friday, Aug. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 10, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Aug. 11, at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students/seniors and they're available both online and at the door.

For more information, including show times and ticket information, visit Playhouse 44's website and/or its Facebook page.

To order tickets, visit this link.