Caroline Kinsolving, actor and Litchfield County resident, brings the play CRY IT OUT, which is currently showing at Hartford Stage, to Washington Montessori School on December 14 and 15. The playwright, Molly Smith Metzler, has granted Kinsolving’s organization Theatre for Good the rights to bring the play to New Preston to raise money for PAAL – Parent Artist Advocacy League – which supports parents in the arts. Broadway actors will head up from NYC to donate their time and talents while the director Rachel Alderman will reshape the performance for the WMS stage.
Kinsolving who plays the upper class mother in CRY IT OUT shares how her experience growing up in Litchfield County informed her role:
“I felt very close to my character: my compassion grew for her the longer I played her. I borrowed qualities from people I’ve socialized with and worked for in the past and worked with understanding what it really meant to be in their shoes. During our table work discussions, our Assistant Director, Jasmine Gunter, brought in a chart called “Hidden Rules Among Classes.” Reading it shone a light on the story we were telling and I felt keyed into the pressures of my character when I read that the Destiny of the Wealthy Class is ruled by expectation. I find the judgement that classes thrust upon each other so limiting to our society in general and that’s one of the biggest reasons I love this play. If the upper class could hold enormous empathy for the middle and lower classes and vice versa, we would live in a much more civil, caring world. I am appalled when this is lacking in any society, especially our own.”
In a review by Joseph Harrison of Broadway World, he states ““CRY IT OUT at Hartford Stage is a perfect mix of comedy and thoughtful relationship drama that elicits laughter while encouraging introspection. The dilemmas that are brought to life on stage feel real and have a sense of urgency that translates into a fast paced, thoroughly enjoyable 90 minutes. Whether you are a new parent, or can barely remember those diaper-filled days, CRY IT OUT is a lovely night at the theatre.”
Kinsolving shares, “This play explores so much about how we judge one another unfairly and place incredibly high expectations on women. Through this rehearsal process and speaking with other mothers, I’ve had incredibly eye-opening conversations that have made me so much more aware of the plethora of challenges mothers face. I only wish that we all, as a society, had many more open and honest dialogue about pregnancy, birth, and postpartum…I just wonder how our collective minds might shift if we told the stories around birth as frequently as we do war stories and saluted those who’ve been through it with more depth and respect.” For tickets to the show at Washington Montessori School on December 14 and 15 email Caroline at [email protected].
Rachel Spencer Hewitt, Evelyn Spahr, Erin Gann, Caroline Kinsolving in Hartford Stage’s production of CRY IT OUT, photographed by T. Charles Ericson.
