About TPNC ONE-ACTS FESTIVAL

Note from Town Players of New Canaan’s current President, Deborah Burke:

Over the last few years, I have seen many short one-act plays at various festivals.  Some have touched me more than others, or made me laugh harder than others, or were just more memorable for their writing and/or performances.  So I’ve always wanted to create “THE BEST OF THE BEST” ONE-ACTS FESTIVAL at Town Players of New Canaan.  I never thought it would have to be streamed rather than performed on-stage, but these plays lend themselves beautifully to this situation.  Now you will be able to watch them more than once, if you so desire, thanks to our two-week, on-demand, stream-whenever-you-want program.  

Many of these plays are being revived with the original casts from the Ridgefield Theater Barn (RTB), and Eastbound Theatre’s East/West PlayFest in Milford and Westport.  Still others with partial original casts, as seen at the Darien Library, Manhattan Repertory Theatre in NYC, and the Theatre Artists Workshop (TAW).

I hope these plays delight you, or impact you as much as they did me.  Here they are in no particular order:


  • How Does That Make You Feel? - by Pamela Weiler Grayson - with Deborah Burke and Dana DiCerto
  • ** Welfare -  by Anne Flanagan - with T.J. Chila and Scott Ferrara
  • ** In Her Golden Years - by Steven Korbar - with Elayne Gordon and Dainelle Testori-Gartner
  • Hazleton - by Jim Gordon - with Mike Boland and Jennifer Ju
  • Testimonial - by Jack Rushen - with Ted Yudain and Sally Rose Zuckert
  • Shadows and Light - by Carol Mark - with Laurel Letteri, Joe Niola, and Chris Ceponis
  • Ring Tone - by Bruce Kane - with Jake Soleri and Meagan Elliott
  • Hitting on Women 101 - by Bruce Kane - with Byron O’Hanlon, Catherine Luciani, and Céline Francesca Montaudy
  • * The Computer Lesson - by Myles Gansfried - with Larry Greeley, Jeff Pliskin, and Roberto Perez
  • ** Initial Descent - by Allston James  - with Jennifer Prescott and Chris Prescott
  • Whose Plot is This? - by Pamela Weiler Grayson - with Cathy Cordaro, Gail Yudain, Albert Insinnia, Deborah Burke, and Elayne Gordon                                                                                                                                                   


    * NOTE:  Our SPECIAL THANKS to the RIDGEFIELD THEATER BARN (RTB) for allowing us to perform these plays AS ORIGINALLY PRODUCED AT RTB IN 2019.                                                                                                 ** NOTE:  Our SPECIAL THANKS to EASTBOUND THEATRE (at MAC) for allowing us to perform these plays as originally produced at the East/West PlayFest in various years.

Town Players of New Canaan

We are a small community theater, founded and run entirely by volunteers! We must be doing something right, because we are now in our 75th year, providing top-quality, award-winning productions for all our patrons. In order to make ends meet thoughout the decades, we relay on the generosity of our donors to keep our doors open and our lights on. But these are difficult times, and although our doors are shuttered, we are doing everything in our power to keep our theater alive. And so while other theaters are zooming their productions, we have, instead, decided to produce complete staged plays with co-habitating, and/or safely-distanced actos and crew! Our audience will be able to watch from the comfort of their own living rooms, while our actors perform on the Town Players of New Canaan Powerhouse Theater stage.

In addition, during this pandemic intermission (insert drumroll here!), we’ve decided to move forward on the 35+-year old plans to double the size of our lobby. YES, the original plans were drawn up in early 1985!  We will be adding two additional ADA compliant bathrooms, and redesign the whole lobby for safer distancing and comfort of our patrons. To make this long-standing dream a reality, we ask for your continued support. All donations are tax-deductible, and any all donations are more than welcomed. And if you happen to want the lobby named for yourself or a loved one.... let’s talk! Naming rights available! In the meantime, we ask that you join us for this and other upcoming productions....... And ask you to give what you can to allow us to keep theater ALIVE!