Juliet, Madison Teen, Plays Lead Role In Still Life With Iris At Long Wharf

This information was written and submitted by Juliet's family. It was posted to Madison Patch by Local Editor Pem McNerney.

Juliet Brett will be playing the title character of Iris in Long Wharf Theater’s production of Still Life with Iris, Directed by Elizabeth Nearing.

The first play for young audiences to receive the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays Award, Still Life with Iris centers on a little girl’s search for the simplest of things: home. 

 “I was initially drawn to the play because of how moving it was. . . Iris’s struggle is set against the backdrop of a magical and beautiful world, one that captured my imagination,” said Brett, who grew up in Madison and attended Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven before moving to New York City.

She has acted in multiple projects, current ones including the Tina Fey film Admission, and a soon-to-be-released Noah Baumbauch film.

“We wanted to stay away from anything that talked down to children,” said Sarah Chanis, production manager of the play.

“The play is set in a magical place, but there is quite a bit of reality there.”

Still Life with Iris Apr 20 at 11 & 2, Apr 21 at 2, Apr 27th at 2.  Ages 4-Adult, pay-what-you-can. Long Wharf Theater, New Haven. Reservations suggested, 203.787.4282.


Play synopsis: Iris lives with her mom in the land of Nocturno—a magical place in which the workers make, by night, all of the things we see in the world by day, a world where memories are kept in the pockets of everyone’s coats. The rulers of Nocturno, the Great Goods, are determined to have the "best" of everything on their island—and therefore take Iris away from her home and bring her to Great Island to be their daughter. To ease the pain of this separation, they remove her memories, leaving her with no recollection of her home or her family. Using a single clue, Iris joins with friends she meets on her journey—Annabel Lee (a young woman from the sea) and Mozart (the composer, age 11)—and frees herself from the Great Goods. She returns to Nocturno, having found her past, and her home.