MONROE - Two Planks Theater Company continued its run of the Broadway musical La Cage Aux Folles last weekend. Following its sold-out performance on Sunday, the company invited the public to stay after for a talk-back session focusing on LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) issues and rights. The session was free and featured prominent activists and organizers working in support of LGBTQ communities.

As Two Planks Executive Director Brooke Burling explained, the theater actively seeks to produce shows that not only entertain, but also have a social outreach component where drama can support and help strengthen community beyond the theater's walls.

"We started selecting shows our very first season that could address issues important to the community around us," Ms Burling said. "Our first year we focused on mental health issues with the show Next to Normal - a topic that remains so critical across our towns, state, and country - and we worked with a dozen service and support organizations from across Connecticut to help share their messages of what they were doing in such an important field.

"With La Cage, we looked at what seemed to be a divisiveness reemerging across the country and how different populations were being marginalized, scapegoated, and targeted, including those in the LGBTQ community," she continued. "We wanted to do what small part we could to create a safe space where individuals could come together and not only enjoy a show, but also find compassion, support, and resources that could help them navigate in our ever-changing world."

Sunday's panel featured Peggy Rajski, the Oscar Award-winning filmmaker behind The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ young people ages 13-24; Kamora Herrington, the mentoring program director at True Colors in Hartford; and David Hartman, an officer and the media liaison with New Haven Police Department who brought his own perspective and experience as a gay man to the discussion.

Two Planks Artistic Director Susan Halliwell, who also directed La Cage, was happy that the company could do its small part in bringing people together to create a supportive, nurturing environment.

"La Cage is about a gay couple who run a drag nightclub, and their son brings home his fiancée along with her father, who happens to be an ultraconservative politician," Ms Halliwell said. "The show opens a window onto the issues and challenges LGBTQ people face, but does so in such a heartfelt and charming way. For theater to play one small part in providing resources and outreach … we are glad we can do what we can for our neighbors in the surrounding community."

Two Planks wanted to use the show as a forum to make resources available to the public. As such, it reached out to high schools in nearby towns and worked with extracurricular clubs and organizations, including gay/straight alliance groups within the schools, to spread the word that resources are out there for anyone in need.

"We just produce theater," said Ms Burling. "But if we can bring together experts in various fields who can help members of our community here at home … that's what makes what we do even more rewarding."

For those who were not able to attend La Cage the past two weeks or this past Sunday's free community conversation, Ms Burling encourages anyone in need to reach out to the panelists' organizations for resources and support.

The Trevor Project can be found online at thetrevorproject.org or reached through its 24-hour crisis hotline at 866-488-7386.

True Colors can be found online at ourtruecolors.org or 860-232-0050.

Interested parties looking to get in touch with any of the panelists can also contact Two Planks Theater Company at info@twoplankstheater.org.

La Cage Aux Folles runs one final weekend, through March 12. Newtown Bee Theater Reviewer Elizabeth Young called the work "stirring, heartwarming, and a whole lot of fun" in her review. It is worth the ride to Monroe, she asserts, "to see how it all turns out for this unconventional and yet very ordinary family in a story of love and loyalty, courage and commitment."

Curtain is Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 5 pm. Full details including ticket purchasing options and directions are available by calling 203-246-5991 or visiting twoplankstheater.org.