Branford Parks and Recreation Department
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LTEd
We are excited to partner with Legacy Theatre to offer many opportunities for the community to expand your creative arts and theatre experiences. Join a class today! 

Toddler Time!
Instructors: Chelsea Dacey and Nick Fetherston                                                       
Sing and dance! Each week will explore a new theme- Princesses and Princes, Pajama Week, Rainbow Day, etc. Class will include singing and dancing with ribbons, learning pitch and notes, sing-a-longs, and make believe games perfect for your toddler. 
Note: Parents must stay throughout class

Drama Class: 3rd-5th Grade
Instructors: Chelsea Dacey and Nick Fetherston
A perfect intro to theatre! Students will explore scenes, music and dance from musicals and plays.

Musical Theatre Performance Class: Grades 6th-10th
Instructor: Chelsea Dacey
Students will dive into musical theatre songs and explore how to connect to their songs in meaningful ways.

Creating Your Own Solo Show: (Ages 12+) 
Instructor: Julie Fitzpatrick
Over the course of this small class limited to six students, we will explore our life stories and dramatize a moment of happening within them. The focus will be on a ten-minute excerpt which will be staged in the final week of class. 

Adult Improv. (Ages: 18+)
Instructor: Mary Lou Lauricella
Enjoy the exploration of improvisation in 4 weeks of fun and engaging exercises and scenes. Let yourself play again while improving your spontaneity, listening skills and ability to be more present through the art of improvisation. 

Wheel Life Theatre Troupe: All ages welcome!
Instructors: Julie Fitzpatrick and Keely Baisden Knudsen
Join our group of actors who use assisted devices (and their buddies!) as we
explore storytelling with original and classic works. Pre-Registration is required. Please email keely@legacytheatrect.org for more information and to register.



Chelsea Dacey
Chelsea’s teaching experience ranges from: Director, Fairfield Summer Stage (Frozen Jr., Lion King Jr., Finding Nemo Jr., and Little Mermaid Jr.); Director, Independent Day School (Shrek, Singing in the Rain Jr.); and Music Teacher, Independent Day School and many more. At Legacy Theatre, Chelsea’s teaching experience has included teaching Toddler Time (theatre and music class for toddlers), Fairy Tale Musical (theatre class where students create their own musical), and an audition preparation class. Her Legacy Theatre performances include: Rapunzel/Book and Music (A Princess Tea), Piglet (The Tales of Christopher Robin and Winnie-the-Pooh), Choreographer (You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown), Silly Dilly: The Musical, and Belinda (The Tales of Custard the Dragon). Other experience includes Off Broadway (Piggy Nation) and regional theatre shows. She is also a narrator on Audible (Romany Romance). For more information, visit: ChelseaDacey.com
 
Nick Fetherston
Nick is an actor operating out of the New Haven area. He is a graduate of Quinnipiac University with a degree in Theater Studies and is also an alumnus of The National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. His Legacy Theatre credits include playing Johathan in The Play That Goes Wrong, Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Rosencrantz in Hamlet. Other credits include playing Don John/The Sexton in Much Ado About Nothing (Capital Classics), Albert in Goldfish (New Haven Theater Company), and Mr. Bingley in Pride and Prejudice (The Little Theatre of Manchester). Nick is also a standardized/simulated patient for Yale University and Quinnipiac University, where he uses his acting skills to assist in the training of medical students. He has also taught Improv at The Foote School in New Haven as part of their Horizons summer program. For more information, visit: NickFetherston.com

Julie Fitzpatrick
Julie Fitzpatrick is delighted to be teaching Acting and Writing Your Solo Show with Legacy Theatre. Julie is a poet, playwright, performer and teacher who has worked locally with St. Martin de Porres Academy in New Haven, Madison Arts Barn, GreenStage Guilford Live Arts, Moses Gunn Theater Company, Drama Works, Shoreline Arts Alliance and Wheel Life Theatre Troupe. Her acting credits run the gamut from Off-Broadway to regional theater and her Film/TV work includes Law & Order and The OA. Julie is a member of the Guilford Poets’ Guild, The Playwrights Circle and Ensemble Studio Theatre in NYC. Her play 77 U-Turn is published by Next Stage Press and can be purchased here. More info can be found at juliefitzpatrick.com. Julie lives with her favorite guys: her husband Pete and her sons, Fitz and Gracen.

 
Keely Baisden Knudsen
An award winning director, Keely has performed, directed, and choreographed internationally in plays, musicals, operas, and dance companies in hundreds of theatrical productions and has performed in 48 of the United States and in the UK. Realizing her vision of a new theater company on the Connecticut Shoreline, Keely’s ideals of inspiring, inclusive work that uplifts the human spirit and connects communities formalized in the creation of the Legacy Theatre with Co-Founder Stephanie Stiefel Williams, a performing colleague and dear friend. Keely has directed, choreographed,  and taught a myriad of performing arts courses at such institutions as Quinnipiac University, Yale University, Fairfield University, Hartt School of Drama, Southern Connecticut State University, Westminster College, and was the Director of Education of New Haven's acclaimed Elm Shakespeare Company for several years. Additionally a composer/lyricist and playwright, she is currently collaborating on two musicals and is a member of ASCAP. Her directing has been heralded by the Arts Paper as “…visually striking, emotionally moving” and “captivating” and of her direction of Hamlet it was said, “Knudsen has made the notoriously difficult Shakespearean language accessible.” Her creation of the Wheel Life Theatre Troupe has been an especially rewarding program as she acts and directs with those who ambulate with crutches and wheelchairs. Her BFA is from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, at which she graduated first in the class, and she received her Masters Degree in Drama on full scholarship from The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. Keely, her husband Brian, and five children (Saviah, Liviana, Wynter, Emery, and Reeves) reside in Guilford, CT, where she thoroughly enjoys running the Legacy with a tremendous staff and community support.
 
Mary Lou Lauricella
Mary Lou Lauricella has worked as a professional actress in regional theatre before becoming a registered drama therapist. She holds a B.A. in Theater and English from Washington College and a Masters in drama therapy from NYU. She is trained in both Meisner (Neighborhood Playhouse) and Method acting techniques. She has been the director of the Veterans’ Homefront Theater at VA Connecticut, an outpatient PTSD theater group for over 20 years. The group was an improvisational theater group creating original works that were performed within the veteran and civilian communities. The group was the subject of a documentary film “No Unwounded Soldiers” created by award-winning filmmaker Rebecca Abbott. The film was screened at the Vail Colorado Film Festival, the Connecticut Film Festival and was aired on Connecticut Public Television. She has partnered with Quinnipiac University’s Theater for Community, the Clifford Beers Clinic and the Connecticut Coalition for End of Life Care facilitating theater workshops at the MacDougal maximum security prison and the prison Volunteer Bereavement and Hospice program. She has co-chaired the North American Drama Therapy Conference, presented at the Expressive Therapies Conference, NER-AMTA Music Therapy Conference.

Register Activity Ages Grades Days Date/Time Fees
 
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Toddler Time Spring: Saturdays  
3y - 5y N/A Sa  04/20/2024 - 05/18/2024
09:15 AM - 10:00 AM
Joseph Trapasso Community House - Fitness Room - 2nd Floor 		$150.00 Res, $160.00 Non-Res
 
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Drama Class Spring (3rd-5th) 
N/A 3 - 5 Sa  04/20/2024 - 05/18/2024
11:15 AM - 12:00 PM
Joseph Trapasso Community House - Fitness Room - 2nd Floor 		$150.00 Res, $160.00 Non-Res
 
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Drama Class Spring (K-2nd) 
N/A K - 2 Sa  04/20/2024 - 05/18/2024
10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Joseph Trapasso Community House - Fitness Room - 2nd Floor 		$150.00 Res, $160.00 Non-Res
 
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Creating Your Own Solo Show (Ages 12+) 
12y - 99y N/A M  04/22/2024 - 05/20/2024
06:00 PM - 07:30 PM
Joseph Trapasso Community House - Bonus Room - 1st Floor 		$175.00 Res, $185.00 Non-Res
 
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Musical Theatre Performance Spring (6th-10th) 
N/A 6 - 10 Sa  04/20/2024 - 05/18/2024
12:15 PM - 01:15 PM
Joseph Trapasso Community House - Fitness Room - 2nd Floor 		$160.00 Res, $170.00 Non-Res
 
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Adult Improv Spring (18+) 
18y - 99y N/A Sa  04/20/2024 - 05/18/2024
10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Joseph Trapasso Community House - Totokett Room A - 2nd Floor 		$175.00 Res, $185.00 Non-Res
* Adjustments and discounts will be applied during checkout if applicable. *

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