Original Biographies In New Theatre Series Debuting This Month

BRIDGEPORT — The Polka Dot Playhouse and Chamber Music Plus, two of Connecticut’s long-standing performance arts institutions, are getting ready for the inaugural season of “Parallel Portraits,” a series of three innovative shows featuring the renowned actors Keir Dullea, Barbara Feldon and Jill Clayburgh, will The Clark-Schuldmann Duo on cello and piano.

For one night each in October and December and then in February 2001, Chamber Music Plus, one of Connecticut’s most active chamber music organizations, will bring its original creations to the newly renovated Polka Dot Playhouse at 177 State Street.

“Parallel Portraits” is a unique combination of theater and music, drama and melody, woven together into poignant and remarkable performances. The programs will use actors and spoken words integrated with chamber music, offering a symbiosis of music and narrative.

Each program in the three-performance series couples the lives of famous artists through their writings, quotes, and historical fiction — what they said, what they might have said, and what they still say to us as their works have come down through time. The artists’ times, their lives, and their inspirations are illuminated in the light of the music that they wrote or knew.

The husband and wife team of cellist Harry Clark and pianist Sanda Schuldmann, founding members in 1980 of Chamber Music Plus, will perform the exceptional music for each show of “Parallel Portraits,” along with well known invited guests.

The series begins on Friday, October 27, at 8 pm, as Keir Dullea (known for his featured roles in 2001: A Space Odyssey and David and Lisa) stars as August Franchomme in Mazurka: A Parallel Portrait of Frederic Chopin and August Franchomme. The production will reveal the inside story of Chopin’s romance with the novelist George Sand as it chronicles the great moments of artistic creation.

On Friday, December 8, Barbara Feldon, widely recognized for her role on television’s Get Smart, stars in A Stopped Clock: From Brahms to Bloomsbury — a Portrait of Dame Ethel Smyth.

The final “Parallel Portrait,” which will be held in February 2001 on a date to be announced, is Patience for the Harvest: Jenny Lind and Emily Dickinson.Renowned actor Jill Clayburgh will portray Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale,” who was celebrated as the world’s most famous opera singer. In her role as Lind, Ms Clayburgh will describe an imaginary relationship with America’s unknown, reclusive poet Emily Dickinson and the incredible similarities between their lives and visions of their art.

Individual tickets to each performance in the “Parallel Portraits” series are $30. Seating is general admission, and phone charges are welcome. Call the Polka Dot Playhouse box office at 203/333-3666 for further information and tickets.