The play, running Jan. 23 through Feb. 16, is set in a Black community in the late 1960s, a time period Hartford Stage successfully conjured for the Dominique Morisseau’s “Detroit ‘67” in 2019. This production features several actors who are steeped in Wilson’s work. Some even knew and worked closely with the playwright, who died in 2005.

Jerome Preston Bates, who plays Holloway in the show, said his first Wilson play was a production of “Two Trains Running” in Philadelphia in the early 1990s playing a different character, West. The next one he did found him originating the role of Floyd Barton in the world premiere production of “Seven Guitars” at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. When “Seven Guitars” moved to Broadway Bates went with it, understudying two of the lead roles. Next was “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at the New Federal Theatre in New York. Then he did Wilson’s “Jitney” at the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. Pittsburgh is where Wilson began his writing career and where most of his plays are set.

“That was four in a row,” Bates said, enough to get him known in theater circles as “an August Wilson actor” though he said there was a 17-year gap before he did another one.

There are 10 plays in Wilson’s Century Cycle, with each play taking place in a different decade of the 20th century. The plays are meant to stand apart from each other, but characters from some plays are mentioned in other ones and there are recurring themes. All the plays concern the difficulties of Black life in America.

Bates directed staged readings of every one of the Century Cycle plays in Augusta, Georgia between 2005 and 2008, and is in the process of doing them all again now in the same city.

Working on important early productions of “Seven Guitars” and “Jitney,” Bates got to know Wilson personally. “During ‘Seven Guitars’ he was still writing, by pencil and paper, the script,” Bates said. “He would give us new pages every day. He was looking up while he was writing, very much in the room. I got to be around him. For ‘Jitney’ I got a little closer to him.

I sat at his tables. I got books from him. In one of them he wrote ‘To Jerome Preston Bates, the first Floyd Barton,’” he said.

Winter theater in CT offers a range of shows from big musicals to insightful intimate dramas

Hartford Stage has now brought Bates back to his first Wilson play, “Two Trains Running.” The play, set during the heated Civil Rights protests of the late 1960s, takes place in a diner in the Hill district of Pittsburgh. The seven characters, which include the diner’s owner Memphis and his employee Risa, debate issues of the day, including the death of a local religious leader, whose body is lying at a funeral home on the same block, the likely sale of the diner, various work and life troubles and the potential payout from the neighborhood numbers racket.

Bates has appeared on Connecticut stages before in other great Black dramas such as Michael Henry Brown’s “Generations of the Dead in the Abyss of Coney Island Madness” at Long Wharf Theatre in 1990 and Samuel E. Kelley’s “Pill Hill,” both in its premiere at the Yale Repertory Theatre’s Winterfest in 1990 and when Hartford Stage did it in 1992. He had to step into the Hartford production at short notice and despairs that he didn’t get a chance to get to know the city. Now he gets another opportunity. “It’s incredible to come back to Hartford after 32 years,” the actor said.

It’s a welcome return to Connecticut for the play as well. The world premiere of “Two Trains Running” at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven in 1990 featured the stellar cast of Laurence Fishburne (who won a Tony for playing Sterling when the show moved to Broadway), Samuel L. Jackson, Samuel E. Wright, Ella Joyce, Sullivan Walker, Leonard Parker and Al White. When the production went to Broadway two years later, Fishburne, Walker and White were still in the cast, while Roscoe Lee Browne replaced Wright as Holloway, Anthony Chisholm, not Jackson, was Wolf, Cynthia Martells was Risa and Chuck Patterson, rather than Parker, was West.

Bates’ character Holloway is described in Wilson’s stage directions as “a man who all his life has voiced his outrage at injustice with little effect. His belief in the supernatural has enabled him to accept his inability to effect change and continue to pursue life with zest and vigor.”

The rest of the cast includes David Jennings as Hambone, Rafael Jordan as Sterling, Postell Pringle (from Hartford Stage’s production of “The Hot Wing King”) as Wolf, Taji Senior as Risa, Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr. (the artistic director of HartBeat Ensemble who is making his third appearance in a Hartford Stage play following “All My Sons” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”) as Memphis and Jeorge Bennett Watson as West.

Yale Rep was known for nurturing Wilson’s work. Lloyd Richards, who directed the world premieres of five of the plays in the Century Cycle, was the Yale Rep’s artistic director in the 1980s and also the artistic director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford where most of the plays had their first readings. This meant that other Connecticut theaters tended not to do the plays. But with “Two Trains Running,” Hartford Stage has now done four Wilson plays in the past 18 years, the previous ones being “Fences” in 2007, “Gem of the Ocean” in 2011 and “The Piano Lesson” in 2016.

Gilbert McCauley, who is directing “Two Trains Running” for Hartford Stage, has never directed this play before, though he’s helmed productions of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” (in Ghana), “The Piano Lesson” and “Fences.” He has seen “Two Trains Running” done and, like a lot of Wilson fans, is “not sure why it doesn’t get done more often, though I do know of two other productions coming up right now. There’s something about how it speaks to people today. There’s a harmony of meaning in a way, all this stuff happening at that time in this Pittsburgh neighborhood. The language of it is heightened. The subject matter ranges from gritty to everyday to humorous to sad.”

McCauley is a professor in the theater department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where is he starting rehearsals on a production of Aishah Rahman’s “Unfinished Women Cry in No Man’s Land While a Bird Dies in a Gilded Cage” immediately after “Two Trains Running” opens in Hartford.

He met Hartford Stage’s artistic director Melia Bensussen through the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society union (for which Bensussen serves on the executive board). “I reached out to her last year about doing a different Wilson play,” McCauley said. “Melia is a great artistic director. You don’t always get someone who’s so welcoming.”

The director noted that “Two Trains Running” is the play in the Wilson cycle that takes place in the late 1960s, when, in real life, its playwright was in his early 20s just starting his writing career and especially aware of what was happening on the streets of Pittsburgh. Another distinction of this play is that unlike “Fences” or “The Piano Lesson” or several other plays in the cycle, it doesn’t involve members of the same family. “It’s a motley crew, all from different backgrounds,” McCauley said.

The play is willfully “deceptive,” the director said, in how it reveals its greater, more universal meanings by “talking about everyday things. These are people who have come to their last refuge here. They are dealing with a world outside that’s not so friendly to them and does not have their best interests at heart. There’s this destruction going on all around them. I wanted to evoke the sense of this place that is worn but very cared for, that feels like a safe place.”

“Two Trains Runnings” runs through Feb. 16 at Hartford Stage, 50 Church St., Hartford. Performances are Tuesdays through Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. There is no 2 p.m. matinee on Jan. 25 and no public performance on Feb. 4. $20-$105. hartfordstage.org/two-trains-running.

In between are a double bill of R&B/soul/pop legends The Spinners and The Isley Brothers (both of whom are in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame), Martin Sexton covering an entire Beatles album, an impressive “Must Be Nice” lineup of soul and R&B stars at the Shubert, alchemists G. Love and Anders Osborne, the punky Southern roots trio Kudzu Queen, a trio of Broadway stars doing showtunes about “bad boys,” rapper Destroy Lonely, ‘90s rock stalwarts Big Head Todd and the Monsters and a screening of “Dirty Dancing” with a live band playing “I Had the Time of My Life” and other tunes.

These are the kinds of things that have to be heard to be believed, so it’s a great week to go out and listen.

Bowzer’s Rock ‘N’ Doo-Wop Party Volume 23: The Final Chapter
Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville

Jon “Bowzer” Baumann of the 1970s nostalgia-pop sensations Sha Na Na leads what he’s said will be his last “Rock ‘N’ Doo-Wop Party” tour. The lineup of the “Final Chapter” edition is Chubby Checker & The Wildcats, Gary “U.S.” Bonds, Jay Siegel’s Tokens, Peggy March, The Dubs, Lala Brooks (the original lead singer of The Crystals), Frank Pizarro (the 9/11 firefighter hero who became a pop vocalist), Bowzer and his backing band The Stingrays featuring Johnny Contardo. Rocky & The Rollers and special guest Bobby Wilson (son of the legendary Jackie Wilson). Jan. 19 at 3 p.m. $42.50-$142.20. mohegansun.com.

Must Be Nice R&B Concert
Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven

The concert features soul/R&B revue with Lyfe Jennings (“Must Be Nice”), Keke Wyatt (“Nothing in This World”), Horace Brown (“One for the Money”) and Sunshine Anderson (“Heard It All Before”). Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. $64.90-$100.60. shubert.com.

Orlando Baxter: Live from South High
Funny Bone Comedy Club, 194 Buckland Hills Dr. Suite 1054, Manchester

Orlando Baxter performs the show on which he based a special a couple of years ago, “Live from South High: A Teacher Appreciation Story.” Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. $25. hartford.funnybone.com.

Dagwood, Classic Traffic, Beauty and Splitview
Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden

Two Connecticut bands, Dagwood and Splitview, plus the New Jersey acts Classic Traffic and Beauty converge at Cafe Nine for a night of punk, rock and pop. Jan. 19 at 8 p.m. $21.54. spaceballroom.com.

G. Love & Special Sauce
Infinity Music Hall, 20 Greenwoods Road West, Norfolk

The innovative singer/musician who introduced elements of rap and hip-hop into modern blues back in the 1990s is back on tour with his band Special Sauce. The most recent studio album is “Philadelphia Mississippi. Jan. 21 at 8 p.m. $68.04-$114.43. infinityhall.com.

Kudzu Queen
Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven

Kudzu Queen, the local Southern Americana roots trio who also dabble in R&B, punk and other sounds, is calling their show on Jan. 22 at 8 p.m. their farewell show. $10. cafenine.com.

The Fierce Urgency of Now: MLK Tribute Concert
Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Ave, Hartford

The Hartford Symphony Orchestra presents a concert featuring some of the most important Black composers of the 20th century in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Selections included Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout,” Florence Price’s “Juba Dance,” Terence Blanchard’s “Malcolm X Suite,” the second movement (“Hope in the Night”) of William Dawson’s “Negro Folk Symphony,” spirituals sung by baritone Schauntice Marshall, a medley of Duke Ellington compositions and more. Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. Free. hartfordsymphony.org.

Broadway’s Bad Boys
Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, Westport

Three Broadway musical theater stars — Julius Thomas III (a veteran of “Hamilton” who was just in the Long Wharf Theatre production of “She Loves Me”), Ridgefield native Sam Gravitte (who’s been Fiyero in “Wicked”) and Kevin Massey (who starred on Broadway in “Tarzan,” “Memphis” and “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”) — sing songs associated with villains, anti-heroes and the criminally misunderstood, from the “Phantom of the Opera” to the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast.” Jan. 23 and 24 at 7 p.m., Jan. 25 at 2 and 7 p.m. and Jan.  26 at 2 p.m. $35-$65. westportplayhouse.org.

Destroy Lonely
Oakdale Theatre, 95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford

The Atlanta rapper Destroy Lonely is touring behind his latest album “Love Lasts Forever,” which was released last August and spawned the single “Luv 4 Ya.” Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. $59; $182.90 VIP package. concerts.livenation.com.

Tim Dillon
Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road, Ridgefield

The popular comedian and podcaster brings his stand-up to Ridgefield Playhouse. A second show was added when the 7:30 p.m. one sold out. Jan. 23 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. $50-$60. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

Ms. Pat
Funny Bone Comedy Club, 194 Buckland Hills Dr., Suite 1054, Manchester

She has a sitcom (“The Ms. Pat Show”), a courtroom show (“Ms. Pat Settles It”) and was a highlight of Netflix’s recent “Torching 2024: A Roast Of The Year” special. Ms. Pat brings her “Hot & Flashy” tour to the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Manchester on Jan. 24 at 7 and 9:30 p.m., Jan. 25 at 6:30 p.m. $37-$47. hartford.funnybone.com.

Badfish
Toad’s Place, 300 York St., New Haven

The acclaimed Sublime tribute (and more) known as Badfish is back at Toad’s Place, where the band played regularly for decades, with Kash’d Out and The Quasi Kings, Jan. 24 at 8:30 p.m. $25, $20 advance. toadsplace.com.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters
College Street Music Hall, 238 College St., New Haven
District Music Hall, 71 Wall St., Norwalk

The Colorado rock band Big Head and the Monsters formed in the mid-1980s, had some monster albums in the ‘90s and was an anchor of the popular H.O.R.D.E. tours. Their two shows in Connecticut this week are billed as “An Evening With Big Head Todd and the Monsters,” kind of the opposite of a big festival tour. Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. at District Music Hall (districtmusichall.com; $59.11-$100.31), then Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. at College Street Music Hall (collegestreetmusichall.com; $30-$79.71).

Randy Houser and Nick Bosse
Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Trolley Line Blvd., Mashantucket

Country hitmaker Randy Houser (“Runnin’ Outta Moonlight,” “Goodnight Kiss,” “Like A Cowboy”) and North Stonington’s own Nick Bosse (“Whatever Happened to Country?”) share a bill Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods’ Great Cedar Showroom. $61.65-$271.10. foxwoods.com.

Martin Sexton
Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge, Ridgefield

The revered folk artist puts his spin on The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album. Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. $50-$65. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra
Garde Arts Center, 325 State St., New London

A “Masterpieces of Three Centuries” concert with Mozart’s oboe concerto, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola, Beethoven’s eighth symphony and Caroline Shaw’s “and the swallow.” Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. $14-$77. gardearts.org.

The Isley Brothers and The Spinners
Foxwoods Resort Casino, 350 Trolley Line Blvd., Mashantucket

Two classic ‘60s pop/soul acts, The Isley Brothers (“Shout,” “Twist and Shout,” “Pop That Thang”) and The Spinners (“Rubber Band Man,” “I’ll Be Around,” “Could It Be I’m Falling in Love”) both perform Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. at Foxwoods’ Premier Theater. The Isley Brothers still features founding member Ronald Isley and his youngest brother Ernie. All the original Spinners are deceased but two of the current members have each been with the group for over 15 years. $61.65-$302.50. foxwoods.com.

Anders Osborne
Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road, Ridgefield

Americana/blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Anders Osborne brings his expressive sound to Ridgefield Playhouse on Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. $45-$49. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

‘The Tin Woman’
Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Say brook

“The Tin Woman,” Sean Grennan’s drama about a grieving and trouble family, is being staged by Saybrook Stage Company at The Kate The play is directed by Terri Corigliuanbo. Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m., Jan. 24 and 25 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. $17-$29. thekate.org.

Ali Siddiq
The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford

Texan comedian Ali Siddiq finds comedy in interesting places, such as the years he spent incarcerated for drug offenses. Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. $30-$80; $125 meet & greet. bushnell.org.

‘Dirty Dancing in Concert’
The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford

A screening of the romantic adventure film set at a Catskills resort in the 1960s is accompanied by a live band and vocalists. Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. $45-$95. bushnell.org.

‘In Conversation with The Sopranos’
Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury

An evening with three immediately recognizable members of the cast of “The Sopranos” — Steve Schirripa (who played Bobby Bacala), Vincent Pastore (Big Pussy) and Michael Imperioli (Christopher), plus host Joey Kola. Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m. $40-$100. palacetheaterct.org.

Mystic Dead
Space Ballroom, 295 Treadwell St., Hamden

Mystic Dead is called that because they are from Mystic and they play Grateful Dead songs. Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. $26.69, $21.54 in advance. spaceballroom.com.

Tickets to the event are free and are expected to be gone as soon as they are made available on Jan. 31.

Reynolds has appeared in dozens of movies, from “Van Wilder” to “Green Lantern” to the “Deadpool” series. He is also known as a businessman with investments in numerous companies including Mint Mobile, for which he acts as a spokesman in TV commercials.

Levy is a 1989 graduate of Yale. He directed Reynolds in “Free Guy,” “The Adam Project” and “Deadpool and Wolverine,” co-produced all three with Reynolds and wrote two of them. Among his many other projects, Levy directed the “Night at the Museum” series of comedies and the 2006 remake of “The Pink Panther” starring Steve Martin. He is the executive producer of the “Stranger Things” series, for which he has also directed a few episodes each season.

The Yale talk will be moderated by film critic Kevin McCarthy. Tickets will be available to the general public through the Yale Schwarzman Center website at schwarzman.yale.edu.

The Connecticut State Poet Laureate and Connecticut State Troubadour each serve a three-year term. The state asks its State Poet Laureate and State Troubadour to each present up to three public events each year during their term as well as “participate in experiences throughout Connecticut” related to their post. These experiences are generally readings, concerts, workshop or other gatherings.

Any Connecticut resident can nominate someone for State Poet Laureate or State Troubadour but can’t make multiple nominations for either position. Candidates cannot nominate themselves, must be Connecticut residents and must remain Connecticut residents for their entire term. The terms for both poet and troubadour begin July 1 of this year and last through June 30, 2028.

The State Poet Laureate position has been around since 1985. The first Connecticut State Poet Laureate was James Merrill, who had won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1977, would received the first Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry from the Library of Congress in 1990 and whose Connecticut home is now the location of a residency program for poets.

The current Connecticut State Poet Laureate is Antoinette Brim-Bell of West Haven, who has published three volumes of poetry and teaches at Capital Community College in Hartford.

Other State Poet Laureates include Leo Connellan, Marilyn Nelson, John Hollander, Dick Allen, Rennie McQuilkin and Margaret Gibson. McQuilkin and Gibson were the first to serve three-year terms. Merrill served for 10 years and the others for five.

The inaugural Connecticut State Troubadour, in 1991, was Tom Callinan, known for his Irish songs and sea chanteys. This year marks 50 years since Callinan began performing. Former State Troubadours include bluegrass icon Phil Rosenthal, dulcimer player Thomasina Levy, jazz/soul/pop artist Nekita Waller and even a couple of duos, Sandy and Caroline Paton and Jeff & Synia McQuillan.

The current – and 18th overall – State Troubadour is Kala Farnham of Pomfret Center, a folk musician who plays piano, guitar and folk harp. Farnham is performing this month in Clinton, New Haven, Middletown and Avon.

Several Connecticut towns or cities have their own official local poets or troubadours. In 2021, Hartford named Khaiim Kelly as its first troubadour and Lael Marie Sae as its first city flow artist. Vernon, Newtown, Westport and Norwalk are among the towns or cities that have their own poet laureates.

The next State Troubadour and State Poet Laureate will be announced in June, shortly before their three-year terms begin.

Information on how to nominate a potential Connecticut State Poet Laureate or Connecticut State Troubadour can be found on the State of Connecticut website at info.chamberect.com/news.

The shows, which take place Jan. 17-19, range from a family’s dysfunctional Christmas holiday to a fake boy band to the tale of Romeo and Juliet transplanted to New Orleans.

This year, with the Goodspeed Opera House undergoing major renovations, the festival is happening at the theater company’s other venue, the Terris Theatre in Chester, as well as at the nearby Chester Meeting House.

The three new musical readings this year are: “R&J: Fire on the Bayou” by Kevin Ramsey and Nygel D. Robinson, featuring a new version of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” set in present-day Louisiana during Mardi Gras (Friday at 7:30 p.m.); “Oy Band” with book, music and lyrics by Bonnie Gleicher, in which four Orthodox Jewish girls disguise themselves as a boy band (Saturday at 7:30 p.m.); and “The Carol of the Bells” with book, music and lyrics by Nevada Lozano, about a family named Bell having a largely dysfunctional Christmas holiday together (Sunday at 1 p.m.).

The cabaret performances are essentially two more musicals performed solo by their creators. Oliver Houser’s “Wunderkind” is described by Goodspeed as “set in a Jewish American family in the early 20th century” with “Hans, a young piano prodigy endeavoring to break free of his father’s crippling expectations and claim his creative voice.” Houser performs it on Friday at 10:30 p.m. at the Terris Theatre.

Cheeyang Ng’s “Legendary” is about the writer/composer’s own cultural journey of moving to America. It will be performed Saturday at 10 p.m. at the Terris Theatre.

“The Carol of the Bells,” was previously done as a cabaret performance last year. That’s becoming a new tradition at the festival. Last year’s reading of the musical “Letters to the President” took place a year after a festival cabaret performance of some of the same material.

The performers in the readings include students at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School. The experience of performing works-in-progress in front of a live audience at one of the country’s key development centers for new American musical theater is a key part of their Hartt education.

One of the writer/composers in this year’s festival has been an adjunct professor at the Hartt School and has performed in Connecticut numerous times as the musical director of shows at theaters throughout the state. Robinson is the co-adaptor, co-composer and co-lyricist with Ramsey for “R&J: Fire on the Bayou.”

Connecticut audiences saw Robinson onstage last month playing piano as the onstage music director of Whitney White’s “Macbeth in Stride” at the Yale Repertory Theatre.

“She brought me in over the summer,” Robinson said of White. “She wanted to do something different with the show since she’d last done it. My first performance with it was at Yale.”

He had a similar pianist/music director role in the Billie Holiday bio-musical “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” at Playhouse on Park in West Hartford in 2022. It was while he was at Playhouse on Park that he connected with Ramsey.

“The director there said ‘I brought a friend I want you to meet.’” Sometime after that, “he reached out to me, out of the blue. I had done some songs about ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ He’d been working on a ‘Romeo and Juliet’ set in New Orleans. It was super-collaborative: I had songs written, he had a concept.”

Robinson was able to come to grips with some of the modern themes he saw in the Shakespeare play when he worked as music director on Hansol Jung’s modern verse translation of “Romeo and Juliet” at Two River Theater in New Jersey.

Goodspeed Musicals has also expressed interest in another Robinson and Ramsey musical theater project, “Mexodus,” the score of which has been released as a concept album.

“I’m a musician who got into theater,” said Robinson, who took piano lessons as a child and gained his first paying musical gigs from playing at his church. From that he eased into theater. “I was too shy to be onstage but I got bit by that bug. I started out acting in high school then moved to New York. I accompanied myself at auditions then started playing out more often.”

Robinson said the lyrics for “R&J: Fire on the Bayou” are “an amalgam of rap, lyricism, Shakespeare … all the key folks are in it.” There are some noteworthy changes, however. In this version, Juliet has a single parent. There is Lady Montague but no Lord Montague. “As Kevin says, the story’s already there. It’s pretty much the same,” Robinson said. “There is a transition from the high language, and of course ‘Fair Verona’ is now ‘Fair New Orleans.’ We’re expanding on certain things, mainly the magical aspect of the show.”

When developing “R&J: Fire on the Bayou,” Robinson said, “we were always asking ‘Why? Why? Why? Why the violence? Why does Juliet feel that way? What’s happening in these children’s minds?’”

Will Robinson be playing piano at the reading of his own musical, as he has done for musicals by so many others? “No, my good friend John Bronson will play piano at the reading, so I’ll be able to sit back and listen to it and watch the reactions.”

The 2025 Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals takes place Jan. 17-19 with performances at the Terris Theatre, 33 North Main St., Chester and other events at the Chester Meeting House, 4 Liberty St., Chester. Access to all festival events is $125 for the weekend. Tickets to all three readings are $75. Single tickets are $30 ($15 students) for readings and $20 for the cabaret performances. goodspeed.org.

She is alsothe daughter of legendary Texas blues guitarist and vocalist Johnny Copeland, who died in 1997 when Shemekia was just 17.

In the summertime, Copeland plays major blues festivals around the world to thousands of people, rocking them with her astonishing vocals and backed by powerful electric blues guitarists. On Friday, she will be performing at a more intimate spot, Infinity Music Hall in Hartford, with her longtime touring band of guitarist Arthur Neilson (who has been with Copeland for 26 years and plays on many of her albums), bassist Kevin Jenkins, guitarists Willie Scandlyn and Cary Samsel and drummer Dan Hickey.

Copeland’s latest album, “Blame It On Eve,” released at the end of August, reunited her with producer/songwriter Will Kimbrough. The recording features appearances by guitarists Luther Dickinson, Charlie Hunter, Kevin Gordon, Jerry Douglas and Dashawn Hickman as well as Kimbrough and has some sizzling saxophone by Jim Hoke on the title track. The main band on the record is Kimbrough on organ, percussion and mandolin, as well as guitar, Lex Price on bass and Pete Abbott on drums. This is a separate outfit from Copeland’s touring band.

Copeland spoke with the Courant about growing up around music, where she enjoys performing and some of her favorite artists.

Is performing something you wanted to do your whole life because you grew up around it?

No. I always could sing because of my father. We always played music around the house and I always loved music, but as a kid I was terrified of being onstage and being in front of people. At that point, I thought my dad was insane for doing it because I was a child and I didn’t understand it. But that’s my favorite part of it now, being out on a stage.

You’ve had records produced by Dr. John and Steve Cropper. What is it like working with Will Kimbrough?

It’s like coming home with Will. This is like our fourth record that we made together. We’re so comfortable doing what we do. It happens organically and it’s very very easy. We work very hard picking and deciding the songs, deciding what it is that we’re putting out into the universe and all that stuff. We play such close attention to that, right? Then we think about what we haven’t done and trying to do new things. We put a lot of time into this and that’s why I say we all care so much about it.

What songs from the new album work best live?

Well of course “Blame it on Eve,” “Broken High Heels,” “Tell The Devil to Go to Hell,” “Cadillac Blue”… we’re doing a lot of this record. But I also take from all my records. “It’s 2 a.m.” is always a big one, I recorded that on my second record. “Ghetto Child” was one of my dad’s songs. People always want to hear that.

How long have you been visiting Connecticut?

I’ve been going up to Connecticut for nearly all of my career. I grew up in New York so I went early, early on with my dad. A lot of fans there. A lot of people who have been seeing me since I was like 15, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

Some of your music really crosses over into other genres. Were you ever in a rock band?

I do rocky things, but I dabble in all American roots music.

What music do you listen to?

I listen to all kinds of music. I love world music, like Ali Farka Touré and Angélique Kidjo to O.V. Wright and Sam Cooke and Kojo Taylor.

Do you have a preference for the type of places you play?

I enjoy different venues. If you’re at an outdoor festival, it’s different than a more intimate crowd. But I just like being onstage, so I enjoy all of it.

Shemekia Copeland plays Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. at Infinity Music Hall, 32 Front St., Hartford. $50.51-$60.82, infinityhall.com.

The festival, running Jan. 15-19, starts on with two nights at Pa’lante’s new storefront space in downtown Waterbury, then shifts to three nights at The Bushnell’s Autorino Great Hall. Dozens of films with Afro Latino themes will be screened with a mix of short films and features each night.

The festival is among the very first events at the company’s space on Grand Street, which it has been setting up for months. The venue, which was renovated in part through a $100,000 grant from the City of Waterbury, will have a black box theater space as well as a cafe/coffee shop.

The films were all made recently, nearly all of them in 2023 or 2024. Pa’lante received over 230 submissions for this year’s festival. A panel of 12 judges chose the 40 or so films being screened.

“It’s different every night,” said Rafael Feliciano-Roman, the founder of the Pa’lante company and the main curator of the festival. “It’s out of this world. We have everything from labor organizing to a Black orchestra leader.”

He recalls how “as a young queer kid growing up in Connecticut,” the LGBTQ+ film festival held in Hartford by Out Film made him feel part of a community. Feliciano-Roman later came to run an LGBTQ+ film festival in Western Massachusetts. When his life brought him back to Connecticut, he envisioned creating events for the Afro Latino community.

The judging process has led to some interesting debates for the still-young festival, Feliciano-Roman said, “like do music videos count as short films? I say yes.” Some of the films were still works-in-progress when they were submitted, leading the judges to follow up on whether they had been completed and could be shown in the festival.

The program on Jan. 15 opens with two hour-long blocks of five short films, followed by two 30-minute features, Udema Mclean & Leo R. Douglas’ “Reimagining Queen Nanny of the Maroons” and Juan Carlos Garcia’s “The Caribbean in Me.”

Jan. 16 offers eight shorts ranging in length from 10 to 22 minutes then the features “Guancho and the Bongosera Mentioso” by Thibeaux Hirsh and “Negrita” by Magdalena Albizu, each of which is well under an hour long.

Jan. 17, the first night at The Bushnell, offers five shorts and the 80-minute feature “Through the Earth” by Malena Bystrowicz and Loreley Unamuno, which is about two women who have migrated from Bolivia to Argentina and share their stories with other women there.

Jan. 18 has a three-short opening program then another short, Carlos Matienzo Serment’s  “Bajudh,” preceding the hour-long documentary “No Cop Academy” by Caullen Hudson about a protest in Chicago.

The festival ends on Jan. 19 with another five shorts then the world premiere of the 33-minute documentary “Black is Beautiful” by Marco Antonio Ortega, about a positivist social campaign started by a brewing company in Texas, and the 23-minute “The Orchestra Chuck Built” by Christopher Stoudt, about Chuck Dickerson and his Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.

“The Orchestra Chuck Built,” Feliciano-Roman said, “is my own personal ‘Mr. Holland’s Opus,’ likening the documentary to the 1995 Hollywood feature starring Richard Dreyfuss as a high school music teacher. He is drawn to both films’ stories of passion for music and community.

Last year, the Afro Latino Film Festival was held at Waterbury’s Seven Angels Theatre, which has supported the Pa’lante group since it was founded five years ago. Pa’lante did their live stage show at The Bushnell’s intimate Great Hall space, which seats 200-300 people, which led to the film festival being brought there.

“We truly want to be out there everywhere,” said Feliciano-Roman.

The Afro-Latino Film Festival takes place Jan. 15 and 16 at 6 p.m. at Pa’lante Theater, 158 Grand St., Waterbury and Jan. 17-19 at 6 p.m. at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. $19. palantetheater.org.

So while autumn may once have the been the main thrust of a theater season, winter is now the core of it. Two of the four shows at Yale Rep this season and two of the five shows at Hartford Stage happen between January and March.

Yale Repertory Theatre used to do full productions of new plays in January, Hartford Stage did readings and Goodspeed Musicals still uses January for its Festival of New Musicals weekend and a private retreat for musical theater creators.

The very nature of theater in the winter seems to have changed. It’s still a good time to find new works, works by Black or Hispanic writers and quirkier stuff that might not play as well in the summer.

Here’s what the chilly months bring this year, not just at the major regional theaters and at “presentation houses” like The Bushnell and the Shubert Theatre but at select small and community theaters around the state.

A.C.T. of CT
36 Old Quarry Road, Ridgefield

The Ridgefield-based theater devoted to American musicals has a classic, “Fiddler on the Roof,” Feb. 6 through March 9 followed by a world premiere dance/movement piece, “Few Words: A Dance Cycle,” composed by A.C.T.’s resident music supervisor Bryan Perri and directed by artistic director Daniel C. Levine with dance supervision by Sara Brians.

The Bushnell
166 Capitol Ave., Hartford

The next two shows in the Broadway series at The Bushnell are culturally sensitive contemporary updates of theater classics, with the rewrites credited to some cool writers. First up is “Peter Pan,” Feb. 4-9, reworked by writer Larissa FastHorse (Broadway’s “The Thanksgiving Play”) with care to countering the Native American stereotypes that have long dogged the fantasy story of a flying boy and his friends.

From March 11-16, The Bushnell has “The Wiz,” a new version of the 1974 musical which translated “The Wizard of Oz” to Black urban culture. The revised book for the show, which was on Broadway last year, is by Amber Ruffin, the longtime “Late Night with Seth Meyers” writer and performer who hosted her own talk show a few years ago.

The Bushnell also has “Dirty Dancing in Concert” on Jan. 25, where a live band and vocalists accompany a screening of the 1987 film. “Girls Night: The Musical,” a song and dance show scored with 1980s and 1990s pop hits that knows its “girls night out” audience well, is at The Bushnell for one night on Feb. 20.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre
Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre, 2132 Hillside Road, Storrs

The next big production from the UConn theater program is Samuel D. Hunter’s “Pocatello,” about the loss of community and tradition in an American city, March 27 through April 6 at the university’s Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre space.

Connecticut Theatre Company
23 Norden St., New Britain

The community-based Connecticut Theatre Company is doing Robert Harling’s ensemble tearjerker “Steel Magnolias” March 14-23.

Curtain Call, Inc.
1349 Newfield Ave., Stamford

The multi-stage community-based theater complex in Stamford is doing “Steel Magnolias” through Jan. 26, the new musical version of “Mystic Pizza” (scored with ‘80s hits) from Jan. 31 through Feb. 15 and the military legal drama “A Few Good Men” March 6-23.

David Geffen School of Drama at Yale
Yale University Theater, 222 York St., New Haven

The student thesis projects at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale are elaborate full productions with rather large budgets. From Jan. 25-31, Juliana Morales Carreño directs her own translation of Colombian playwright Felipe Vergara Lombana’s “Kilele,” described as “our conversation with the land, the water, y nuestros muertos after the war renders all unrecognizable.”

Dionysus Theatre
Enfield Square Mall, 90 Elm St., Enfield

The community-based Dionysus Theatre is now ensconced in the Enfield Square Mall, where they’re staging Jon Robin Baitz’s taut family drama “Other Desert Cities” March 7-23.

Goodspeed Musicals
Terris Theatre, 33 N. Main St., Chester

The Goodspeed Opera House is undergoing extensive renovations and won’t reopen until their 2025 season opens in late April with “Ragtime.” This year’s Goodspeed Festival of New Works, Jan. 17-19, is happening primarily at Goodspeed Musical’s other theater space, the Terris Theatre in Chester. The festival offers readings of three new musicals (this year it’s “R&J: Fire on the Bayou,” “Oy Band” and “The Carol of the Bells”) as well as two cabaret performances (Oliver Houser’s “Wunderkind” and Cheeyang Ng’s “Legendary”) plus panel discussions and other events.

HartBeat Ensemble
Carriage House Theater, 360 Farmington Ave., Hartford

Hartford’s politically and socially consciousness community-oriented theater HartBeat Ensemble is continuing its celebration of the novelist and activist James Baldwin with Kyle Bass’ “Citizen James, or The Young Man Without a Country” Feb. 6-16 at HartBeat’s own Carriage House Theater space. On March 3 at 5 p.m., HartBeat is presenting a staged reading of Baldwin’s play “The Amen Corner” at the Cross Street AME Zion Church in Middletown.

Hartford Stage
50 Church St., Hartford

Hartford Stage offers one of the (unfairly) lesser-produced plays by the one of the greatest Black playwrights in history, then a contemporary comedy about Spanish culture. “Two Trains Running,” at the theater Jan. 23 through Feb. 16, is the 1960s installment of August Wilson’s Century Cycle, in which each play represents a different decade of African-American culture and history. Like most of the plays, it takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Two Trains Running is directed by Gilbert McCauley. Wilson’s play explores the Black Power movement of the 1960s, themes that were touched upon in Hartford Stage’s excellent production of Dominique Morisseau’s “Detroit ‘67” in 2019. “Laughs in Spanish” is a popular new comedy by Alexis Scheer, set at the Miami cultural festival Art Basel. The Hartford Stage production reunites the director (Lisa Portes) and cast members from the show’s New York world premiere production in 2023.

Hole in the Wall Theater
116 Main St., New Britain

New Britain’s Hole in the Wall Theater is one of the most adventurous small theaters in the state. Run by a volunteer collective that allows members to propose projects they’re passionate about, Hole in the Wall regularly does challenging works by contemporary playwrights. This year that includes works by Jez Butterworth and Annie Baker. The season begins Jan. 31 through Feb. 15 with “The Book of Will” by the prolific and popular playwright Lauren Gunderson about the two colleagues of William Shakespeare who compile his works into the First Folio. From March 28 through April 12, Hole in the Wall is doing Jez Butterworth’s “The Ferryman,” a family story set amid The Troubles in Northern Ireland in 1981.

Legacy Theatre
128 Thimble Islands Road, Branford

The Legacy Theatre’s four-play subscription season doesn’t start until May, but the theater’s Sunday Broadway concert series starts on Feb. 16 with J. Harrison Ghee (who was in the Broadway premiere of “Some Like It Hot”), followed by Bonnie Milligan (fondly remembered from Broadway’s “Head Over Heels,” “Kimberly Akimbo”) on March 2 and two-time Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz on March 30.

Long Wharf Theatre

The itinerant, historic New Haven regional theater company Long Wharf Theatre stages Matt Barbot’s “El Coquí Espectacular and the Bottle of Doom,” the lively tale of a Nuyrican comic book writer/artist and his latest creation, Jan. 25-Feb. 16 at Southern Connecticut State University’s Lyman Center. On Feb. 12, Long Wharf is holding a virtual reading of Guadalís Del Carmen’s “Bees and Honey,” about a Dominican couple living in New York City.

New Haven Theater Company
EBM Vintage, 839 Chapel St., New Haven

New Haven Theater Company operates out of the large back room of the EBM Vintage shop in downtown New Haven. From Feb. 27 through March 8, the ensemble-based company is doing Lucas Hnath’s socioreligious drama “The Christians.”

Oakdale Theatre
95 S. Turnpike Road, Wallingford

The Oakdale, which began in 1954 by presenting touring musical theater shows on a revolving stage, is now an indoor concert stage but still occasionally brings in big musicals and other live stage shows. On Jan. 25 and 26, the Oakdale is hosting the long-running current tour of “Annie” directed by Jenn Thompson who regularly directs at the Goodspeed. On March 9, there’s an intriguing new live stage version of the horror movie “Insidious.”

Opera House Players
100 High St., Enfield

The community-based Opera House Players is preparing the dance musical “A Chorus Line” for Feb. 7-23.

Pa’lante Theater Company
158 Grand St., Waterbury

The first full theater production by the Pa’lante Theater Company, Jan. 22-26 in their new space on Grand Street in Waterbury, is Nelson Diaz-Marcano’s “World Classic” which explores immigration and assimilation issues. This is in keeping with Pa’lante’s dedication to work by Afro Latino artists and work about marginalized communities.

Playhouse on Park
244 Park Road, West Hartford

“The Irish… And How They Got That Way” covers a century and a half of stories and songs, from folk ballads to U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” told and sung by a small ensemble. The show is by the late award-winning writer and Connecticut resident Frank McCourt (“Angela’s Ashes”) had a lot of productions when it was still fresh in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but not much recently. The Ivoryton Playhouse in Essex did it in 2011. Playhouse on Park, whose stage is a nice size and shape for this intimate celebration of Irish culture, is doing the play March 12-30, right around St. Patrick’s Day.

Seven Angels Theatre
1 Plank Road, Waterbury

The final season with Seven Angels founder Semina DeLaurentis as artistic director continues with “The Wedding Binder,” a new comedy by Hartford area playwright Jacques Lamarre March 14 through April 6.

Shubert Theatre
247 College St., New Haven

The main theatrical event at the Shubert this winter is the March 20-23 visit from the national tour of a new play based on the board game “Clue,” which has previously had a musical and a movie based on it.

TheaterWorks Hartford
233 Pearl St., Hartford

The James in “King James,” at TheaterWorks Jan. 30 through March 2, is LeBron James. The prolific playwright Rajiv Joseph (whose best known work is “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”) wrote this friendship play about two Cleveland fans of the basketball superstar. The Dionysus Theatre Company in Enfield staged Joseph’s “Describe the Night” last year.

Warner Theatre
68 Main St., Torrington

Now booked by The Bushnell, the large performing arts venue in Torrington has the movement piece “MOMIX: Alice” on Jan. 11 and 12, “Girls Night the Musical” on Feb. 22 and “Dirty Dancing in Concert” March 23. The community-based Warner Stage Company that also works out of the same complex will be announcing their shows for 2025 soon.

Wesleyan Center for the Arts
271 Washington Terrace, Middletown

Anna Deavere Smith, a visiting artist at Wesleyan, gives a talk on the Wesleyan campus on Jan. 24. Student-directed productions this semester include Noah King’s grief-themed “When There Is No Love to Give” Feb. 6-8, Tabitha Davidson’s direction of Adrian Mitchell’s version of Gogol’s “The Government Inspector” Feb. 27-28 and CJ Joseph’s semi-immersive lecture/performance “Dance, Monkey, Dance” also Feb. 27-28.

Westport Country Playhouse
25 Powers Court, Westport

Westport Playhouse now blends a three-show theater season with one-night attractions like concerts and film screenings. On the more theatrical side are an original “Broadway Scores at the Playhouse” concert Jan. 23-26 and a production of the comedy “Native Gardens” by Karen Zacarías about a neighborhood culture clash Feb. 18-March 8.

Yale Cabaret
217 Park St., New Haven

The student-run underground (literally it’s in a basement) performance space offers shows nearly every week during the school semester in an intimate set-up with cabaret tables and food service. Many of the projects are premieres by student writers. The winter programming announced so far is “Apologiae 4 & 5” by Efthimis Filippou Jan. 16-18, “Grandmother/Bathtub” by Brian Dang Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, the annual “Dragaret” post-modern drag show Feb. 14 and 15, and “The Day the Butcher Shop Closed” by Natalie Margolin Feb. 20-22.

Yale Repertory Theatre
1120 Chapel St., New Haven

The Yale Rep, a storied regional theater that had a big book published about it last year, lives up to its rep by presenting new interpretations of plays that benefit from new perspectives and staging techniques. “Eden,” the first play in Steve Carter’s Caribbean Trilogy from the late 1970s and early 1980s, runs Jan. 16 through Feb. 8, directed by Brandon J. Dirden. It’s set in the late 1920s in New York City, which happens to be when and where Carter was born; he died just four years ago at the age of 90. From March 7-29, the Rep is staging a new version of Nikolai Gogol’s satirical masterpiece “The Inspector General,” adapted and directed by Yura Kordonsky, who teaches at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale.

“Risk Management,” an installation by Alan Ruiz, is at the MATRIX space on the first floor of the Wadsworth through Jan. 19.

The exhibit reflects on an important moment in the history of The Wadsworth, the country’s oldest continuously operating public art museum. Over 20 years ago, The Wadsworth solicited proposals for a major renovation of the entire five-building museum complex. Out of 50 international architectural firms in the running, UNStudio from the Netherlands was chosen.

UNStudio unveiled a model that would create a streamlined overarching structure that would encompass the existing Wadsworth buildings, except for one that would need to be demolished. The style was intended to create a more inclusionary feel for the institution.

Reactions to the proposals were varied, some praising the concept and others loudly decrying it. A comment made during the initial reaction to the proposal likened the structure to a “dustbuster” portable vacuum cleaner.

Beyond creating the “Risk Management” piece, Ruiz — a Mexican artist who is based in New York and has spent considerable time in Connecticut (including getting his MFA from Yale) — wrote an extensive essay with dozens of useful footnotes about the history of The Wadsworth’s ultimately unfulfilled unifying renovation project.

Considering the amount of thought and effort that went into it, “Risk Management” might seem unexpectedly sparse, though its economy and clarity helps you focus on its clear theme of how we can mentally process buildings as malleable shapes.

Three sculptures placed centrally in the gallery space are based on the central “dustbuster” form of the proposal, but as if the structure were unfolded, twisted and turned into new shapes. The sculptures are quite small but invite close inspection. They also put a physical form and a shiny surface to a topic that covered cultural and social as well as architectural ideals.

Ruiz did all the construction of the metal sculptures himself. He also designed the hanging mechanism used to hold them, which place the objects at eye level on vertical upright metal poles.

A major conceptual aspect of the installation that may go unnoticed by first-time or infrequent visitors to the MATRIX space is the removal of the dry wall covering one long wall of the gallery, exposing windows that have been covered up for years. Not only does the reintroduction of the windows speak to the themes of renewal, renovation and recovery in Ruiz’s exhibit, the natural light from the windows adds to the reflective quality of the metal sculptures.

Ruiz is “interested in the consciousness of buildings,” said Jared Quinton, the Wadsworth’s Emily Hall Tremaine associate curator of contemporary art who commissioned the exhibit. “Alan is not saying it’s bad that the renovation didn’t happen. His interest is what we can learn from it.”

It was about a year and a half ago that Quinton invited Ruiz to conceive a MATRIX show. Artists chosen for that space are internationally known emerging talents who’ve exhibited at other important galleries. They are given free rein of the rectangular MATRIX space and have special access to the museum’s collection and archives. Not only is Ruiz’s MATRIX show unique to this gallery, Quinton said the artist’s work can take many different forms. “He uses language and tools of architecture. Everything he does looks different.”

The Wadsworth didn’t know exactly what to expect as Ruiz looked for inspiration. He discovered the “dustbuster” controversy and began conceiving a responsive piece. The artist “did site visits,” Quinton recalled. “He did research visits. He spent time in the archives. There are a lot of different paths he could have gone down. He was looking at a lot of architectural histories. The renovation was being linked to some urban renewal at the time, a perpetual Hartford theme.

“The MATRIX gallery and The Wadsworth have a history of making new work in response to tradition and legacy,” Quinton added. “This was a fraught topic. He’s posed it as a question: What can we learn from it? It’s really just about the role architecture plays.”

The renovation project, Ruiz noted in his essay, existed through several changes in leadership at the Wadsworth. He reveals that the scale model of the proposed renovation is stored in the Wadsworth’s basement “deep within the museum’s bowels, an eerie, architectural unconscious, it exists in an ontologically precarious state.” The artist said he fears that the size of the model may doom it to someday be removed from the museum altogether.

The museum had a fundraising goal of $120 million for the UNStudio renovations and had raised $62 million of it before the plan was tabled in 2003. Among the reasons given were some changes of leadership at the museum.

One of the other issues regularly voiced was the worry that the Wadsworth would have to close for two years to allow for the rebuilding.

The Wadsworth did undergo an unrelated full-scale renovation project that lasted five years. In a Courant editorial, the completed project, unveiled in 2015, was deemed a “triumph,” while The New York Times called it a “masterpiece.” It however had none of the daring or contemporary modern intensity of the UNStudio proposal.

Dennis Barone, a professor of English at the University of Saint Joseph, editorialized in the Courant about the doomed project just five years ago: “What a loss to the city and region that this bold and ambitious plan never came to fruition. Now, as one walks along Main Street, all one can do is imagine what might have been.”

Ruiz’s “Risk Management” exhibit allows us to keep imagining.

“Risk Management” by Alan Ruiz is on view through Jan. 19 at the Wadsworth Atheneum & Museum, 600 Main St., Hartford. Visiting hours are Thursday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free to Hartford residents, otherwise $20, $15 for seniors and $10 for students. thewadsworth.org.

There are also three legendary rock guitarists at The Kate, Kate Pierson of the B-52s at Ridgefield Playhouse, Tycho at District Music Hall, a massive “Soul Session” of musicians and artists in Bristol and a multi-night Afro Latino Film Festival presented by Pa’lante Theater in both Waterbury and Hartford.

VCTMS and 156/Silence
The Webster, 31 Webster St., Hartford

VCTMS, the nu metal/hardcore trip with hip-hop inflections from Streamwood, Illinois, is on a big national tour with co-headliner 156/Silence, the post-hardcore/noise/slash band from Pennsylvania. Heavy//Hitter (from Florida) and Monochromatic Black (from New York) are also on the bill. Jan. 12 at 6 p.m.  thewebsterct.com.

‘Croce Plays Croce’
Warner Theatre, 68 Main St., Torrington

A.J. Croce’s full-band touring tribute to his father, the late 1970s hitmaker Jim Croce, has taken many different turns. The show Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. at the Warner Theatre is A.J.’s last “Croce Plays Croce” show of 2025, and we’re only two weeks into the year. The theme is “Croce’s B-Day Bash,” as Jan. 10 was the 82nd anniversary of Jim Croce’s birth. $49-$69. warnertheatre.org.

Midnight Anthem and Meadow Brothers
Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook

Two Connecticut folk/Americana acts, the trio Midnight Anthem and the duo The Meadows Brothers, join for a lilting local concert at The Kate in Old Saybrook. Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. $29. thekate.org.

‘Colorful Silence’
Clare Gallery, Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry, 285 Church Street, Hartford

The theme for the whole 2025 season of exhibitions at the Clare Gallery inside the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry is “Mystery, Mystical and Meaning.” The first on view is “Colorful Silence,” work by painter/writer/storyteller Brother Mickey O’Neill McGrath. Some of the messages in his work are explicit, writ large in huge quotations drawn from the writings of Richard Rohr, Dorothy Day, St. Therese and others. The exhibit runs Jan. 14 through March 9, with a gallery talk with the artist on Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. and a reception on March 2 from 1-3 p.m. Gallery hours are hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays from 9  to 11:30 a.m. spsact.org.

‘The Value of the Ticket: The Power of Artistic Voices’
Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., Hartford

“The Value of the Ticket” is a forum on arts issues moderated by theater artist Taneisha Duggan with a panel consisting of Trudi Lebron of The Institute for Equity-Centered Coaching and ScriptFlip!; Gilbert McCauley, a professor in the Theater department at UMass Amherst who is directing the upcoming production of August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running” at Hartford Stage; and Hartford-based trumpeter and educator Haneef Nelson. The event, happening Jan. 15 at the main Hartford Public Library, begins with a catered reception at 6:30 p.m. The talk is at 7 p.m., followed by a performance by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra String Quartet at 7:50 p.m. and a Q&A with the audience at 8 p.m. Admission is free but an RSVP is required.

Kate Pierson
Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridgefield Road, Ridgefield

Kate Pierson, the bubbliest member of the B-52s — and that’s saying a lot — released her second solo album, “Radios & Rainbows” last year and is on a national tour with a stop Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Ridgefield Playhouse. $60-$90. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

Masters of the Telecaster
Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook

Three important American guitarists share the stage for a concert that could also be seen as a clinic on the Telecaster technique. Jim Weider is the guitarist who was selected to succeed Robbie Robertson in The Band in the 1980s. G.E. Smith was renowned in Connecticut as a member of The Scratch Band before playing on numerous Hall & Oates hits from 1979-1985 and being the on-camera face of the “Saturday Night Live” band from 1985-1995. Larry Campbell was in Bob Dylan’s touring band from 1997 to 2004, worked with Levon Helm for years and even played in the orchestra for several Broadway musicals. Jan. 16 at 7:30 p.m. $49. thekate.org.

Dervish
Infinity Music Hall, 32 Front St., Hartford

An Irish music ensemble that actually hails from Ireland and is on an international tour, Dervish plays Jan. 16 at 8 p.m. at Infinity Music Hall in Hartford. $47.42-$57.73. infinityhall.com

H.R.
Cafe Nine, 250 State St., New Haven

A pivotal figure in the development of hardcore punk, Bad Brains frontman H.R. makes a solo appearance on Jan. 16 at 8 p.m. at Cafe Nine in New Haven. The local opening act is T!lt. $30, $25 in advance. cafenine.com.

Justin Willman
The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford

The magician, whose latest TV series is “The Magic Prank Show” on Netflix is on his “Illusionati” tour. It’s no illusion that you could recognize Willman as the past host of everything from “Cupcake Wars” to “Scrabble Showdown” to “Win, Lose or Draw” to “Baking Impossible.” Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. $39.50-$49.50; $150 VIP meet and greet. bushnell.org.

Taimane & Her Trio
Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook

Hawaiian-born ukulele virtuoso Taimane Gardner and her band play on Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. at The Kate. Taimane’s released five albums and her Tiny Desk Concert on NPR two years ago went viral. $33. thekate.org.

Afroman
The Webster, 31 Webster St., Hartford

Legendary California rapper Afroman has recorded 20 albums but may still be most recognized for two from his first one, “Because I Got High” and “Crazy Rap.” Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. $36.65. thewebsterct.com.

Tycho
District Music Hall, 71 Wall St., Norwalk

The songwriter/composer/producer and multi-instrumentalist (though most notable for his synthesizer work) Tycho has been recording for over 20 years. The latest Tycho album, “Infinite Health,” came out last year and the artist is on tour with his band, which includes a visual artist providing projected images. Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. at District Music Hall in Norwalk. $49.32-$74.56. districtmusichall.com.

Who’s Bad: The Ultimate Michael Jackson Experience
Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford

Hot on the heels of the “MJ” musical playing The Bushnell, Who’s Bad is a long-running high-end full-length Michael Jackson impersonation show on Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. at the Stamford Palace. Who’s Bad has been around over 20 years and has done over 2500 performances around the world. $25-$45. palacestamford.org.

‘The Addams Family’
Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury

A new national tour of the popular musical based on the Charles Addams cartoons, TV show, movies and cartoons. The show, with a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elise (who also co-wrote “Jersey Boys”) and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, is at the Waterbury Palace for just three performances, Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. and Jan. 18 at 2 and 8 p.m. It stars Rodrigo Aragon as Gomez and Renee Kathleen Koher as Morticia. $59-$101. palacetheaterct.org.

Afro Latino Film Festival
Pa’lante Theater, 158 Grand St., Waterbury
The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford

The local Pa-lante Theater in Waterbury, which is dedicated to work by Black Latino artists, presents a five-night Afro Latino Film Festival of screenings of dozens of shorts and features at two locations: the company’s own new space in Waterbury on Jan. 15 and 16, then Jan. 17-19 at 6 p.m. at The Bushnell in Hartford. $19. palantetheater.org.

MOMIX: ‘Alice’
Warner Theatre, 68 Main St., Torrington

Connecticut’s own MOMIX movement troupe, active since the 1980s, brings its provocative, endlessly creative take on “Alice in Wonderland” to the Warner in Torrington. The show was created by MOMIX founder Moses Pendleton. Jan. 18 at 8 p.m., Jan. 19 at 2 p.m. $48-$73. warnertheatre.org.

Boyz II Men
Mohegan Sun Arena, 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville

The 1980s New Jack Swing icons Boyz II Men are still at, serenading generations of soul/pop/R&B fans with their love songs and harmonies. Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. $60.10-$286.45. mohegansun.com.

Brian Dolzani
Space Ballroom. 295 Treadwell St., Hamden

The long-established Massachusetts singer/songwriter is in a special show performing songs by Neil Young. Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. $26.69. $21.54 in advance. spaceballroom.com.

The Amish Outlaws
Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook

The story is that several members of this cover band grew up in the strict Amish culture then were liberated when they experienced the sanctioned break known as “Rumspringa,” embracing rock ‘n’ roll and not returning to the religious society. Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. $43. thekate.org.

The Lords of 52nd Street
Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Road, Ridgefied

Former members of Billy Joel’s touring band have kept their New York pop spirits alive by touring as The Lords of 52nd Street. Multi-instrumentalist Richie Cannata, drummer Liberty DeVitto, and guitarist Russell Javors, who all played with Joel on the albums “Turnstiles” through “Glass Houses,” anchor the group, which also features pianist Dan Orlando, bassist Malcolm Gold, guitarist Dennis DelGaudio and keyboardist Doug Kistner. Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. $35-$50. ridgefieldplayhouse.org.

‘The Soul Session: A Night of Live Music & Art’
Rockwell Theater, 70 Memorial Blvd., Bristol

A four-hour celebration of music, visual art and spoken word with live performances, an art exhibit, a silent auction supporting local artists, showcases of local performers, a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., interactive elements, a photo booth and more. The event is presented by Paradigm Foundation on Jan. 18 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Downtown Live at the Rockwell Theater, Bristol. $35. bristolct.myrec.com.

Phoenix Performing Arts Chinese Dance
Whiton Branch Library, 100 North Main St., Manchester

The Hartford-based Phoenix Performing Arts troupe discusses and demonstrates traditional Chinese classical dances and other aspects of Chinese culture on Jan. 18 at 2 p.m. at the Whiton branch of the Manchester Public Library. Free. manchesterct.gov.