Gary and Francesca Scarpa, founders of Center Stage Theatre and the Youth CONNection, announces ticket sales for the summer’s upcoming production of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” as it celebrates its 30th anniversary.
This summer’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone, directed by Gary Scarpa and choreographed by daughter Mia Scarpa, will be held at the Percy Kingsley Auditorium at Shelton High School July 26th and 27th and August 2nd and 3rd at 8:00pm and August 3rd at 2:00pm. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students.
The winner of five Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards, the musical is a ridiculously entertaining and insanely hilarious musical that is certain to delight you!
To chase his blues away, a modern day musical theater addict known simply as ‘Man in Chair,’ drops the needle on his favorite LP, the 1928 musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone.
When the record begins to play, the musical magically bursts to life in his apartment, telling the tale of a pampered Broadway starlet who wants to give up show business to get married, her producer who sets out to sabotage the wedding, her chaperone, the debonair groom, her Latin lover and a pair of bumbling gangsters. The antics that ensue will have you laughing the entire time.
The Youth CONNection Players was founded by Gary and Francesca Scarpa as a community theatre group for high school and college students. In 1983, after directing the Shelton High School Drama Club for almost a decade, the couple decided to start a community theatre group for high school and college students.
With the help of former Shelton Mayor Eugene Hope, the Scarpas were granted permission to use the then vacant Huntington School, where they mounted the Youth CONNection’s first production, West Side Story, which played to nine sell-out audiences.
In the summer of 1984, the Youth CONNection performed their second production, Bye, Bye Birdie, at Shelton High School’s Percy Kingsley Auditorium, where they have resided ever since. Each summer, the group has performed such musicals as Annie, Man of La Mancha, The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Hello Dolly, The Music Man, The King and I, Oklahoma!, Brigadoon, South Pacific, Meet Me in St. Louis, Godspell, Anything Goes, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Children of Eden, and Les Miserables, to name a few.
Members of the Youth CONNection have given benefit performances for civic organizations and worthy causes throughout the state, including Juvenile Diabetes, the American Cancer Society, Hospice, the Ronald McDonald House, and AIDS Project New Haven.
The Scarpas have been recognized for service to the community, having received the Silver Seal Award from the Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Millennium Award, given by the City of Shelton. Recently, the Boys and Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley recognized the Scarpas with the Raymond P. Lavietes Service to Youth Award.
In 2005, Gary and Francesca founded Center Stage Theatre, Inc., a non-profit community theatre devoted to bringing high-quality theatre to the valley at an affordable price. Since then, the Youth CONNection production has become the kick-off to the theatre’s season.
This summer’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone, directed by Gary Scarpa and choreographed by daughter Mia Scarpa, will be held at the Percy Kingsley Auditorium at Shelton High School July 26th and 27th and August 2nd and 3rd at 8:00pm and August 3rd at 2:00pm. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students.
For tickets and more information please call the box office at 203 – 225-6079 or visit our website www.centerstageshelton.com.
