Bringing Literature to Life.
Connections
Connections is a 4-day classroom program that uses theater to build excitement about reading and strengthen comprehension. A Hartford Stage teaching artist visits a classroom to lead activities based on a work of literature. Through improvisation, role playing, dialogue, and other techniques, students explore the context, plot, and characters of the chosen book, building suspense and empathy. At the end of the week, each student receives a copy of the book to read and keep.
• Connections is for students grades K-8.
• Takes place in classrooms at your school.
• Each class participates for one hour a day for 4 consecutive days.
• The cost of the program is $900/class, which includes a copy of the book for each student to keep.
• Discounts are available if you schedule 10 or more classes in your district.
Make a Connection with Hartford Stage!
Contact us at education@hartfordstage.org or 860-520-7244
Connections Book List
Library Mouse
by Daniel Kirk
Grades K-2
2-day program
Library Mouse is a picture book that encourages early literacy skills – understanding the parts of a story, using your imagination, and thinking of yourself as an author.
Topics: Libraries, librarians, parts of a story, writing, author’s voice, community, fear of not being accepted.
Those Shoes
by Marianne Boelts
Grades 2-3
4-day program
A boy named Jeremy wants a specific pair of shoes so badly that it’s all he can think about. Will he ever get his own pair of those shoes?
Topics: financial literacy, saving and earning, budgeting, spending, wants vs. needs, sacrifice, rewards.
Sarah, Plain and Tall
by Patricia MacLachlan
Grades 2-3
4-day program
Anna and Caleb’s mother has died and their father places an advertisement in the newspaper looking for a new wife. What will happen when Sarah Wheaton and her cat “Seal” agree to come all the way from coastal Maine to an isolated farm on the prairie?
Topics: Loneliness, adventure, adapting to change, family, and home.
Wilma Unlimited
by Kathleen Krull
Grades 3-4
4-day program
Wilma Unlimited is a picture book biography of Wilma Rudolph, a Black woman living in the segregated South who fought racism, sexism, and polio and became an Olympic gold medalist.
Topics: Perseverance, resilience, segregation, racism, civil rights, polio, the Olympics, Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
Grades 4-6
4-day program
Two friends grow up together in Denmark during World War II. How far will one friend go to help another friend in danger?
Topics: Friendship, bravery, the holocaust, prejudice, WWII, injustice, Danish history.
Esperanza Rising
by Pam Muñoz Ryan
Grades 5-6
4-day program
A Mexican family is forced by tragic circumstances to emigrate to California during the Depression, becoming penniless laborers in the US when they were once wealthy land ownersin Mexico. Will 13-year-old Esperanza have the strength to face her future while honoring her past?
Topics: Immigration, labor, the Great Depression, language barriers, family, grief, hope.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by William Shakespeare
Grades 6-8
4-day program
Four teenagers in pursuit of love — and a troupe of actors rehearsing a play — find themselves in an enchanted woods at the mercy of powerful fairies. What happens when mortals meet magic and love gets all mixed up?
Topics: Challenging authority, love, comedy, iambic pentameter, Shakespeare.
Efrén Divided
by Ernesto Cisneros
Grades 7-8
4-day program
When Efrén Nava’s mother is deported, he must find a way to balance caring for his brother and sister while still managing the 7th grade. But will Efrén be asked to take on a more dangerous set of responsibilities to get his mother back?
Topics: Immigration, deportation, family separation, civic responsibility, resilience, US/Mexico border.
Romeo & Juliet
by William Shakespeare
Grades 7-9
4-day program
Born onto opposite sides of a city-wide rivalry, two teenagers meet and fall in love. Are Romeo and Juliet prepared to risk everything to protect what they have?
Topics: Rivalry, rebellion, ill-fated love, tragedy, iambic pentameter, sonnets, Shakespeare.
