The Book Club at Hartford Stage:
An Interview with Ruth Ann Woodley

By Aida Garrido, Development Apprentice

The Book Club at Hartford Stage includes some of the theatre’s most dedicated donors and supporters.  Book club members gather for six evenings of discussion, hosted by members of the Hartford Stage artistic team, centered on books, plays or films which complement and add perspective to each mainstage production.

Common among book club members is the desire to further their intellectual engagement with the theatre’s artistic programming.  This season, members have delved into Make Believeplaywright Bess Wohl’s Small Mouth Sounds and author James Shapiro’s A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 for Henry V.

The Book Club at Hartford Stage has developed a loyal following since its inception four years ago. We recently spoke with donor and subscriber Ruth Ann Woodley, an inaugural member of the Book Club at Hartford Stage, who attends with her husband, Peter Gourley.

Why do you attend the Book Club at Hartford Stage?

We greatly enjoy it, obviously, to keep coming back!  The best thing we get from it is just an always interesting discussion of the plays and the books we read.  We always hear perspectives that we hadn’t thought of and that enhance our enjoyment and understanding of both.  

What is the reading selection like?

Like any book club, there are some reading choices that we’ve loved and some that didn’t work for us, but they always were worth our time to try. Sometimes, the book gives us historical background and context that illuminates the play, like James Shapiro’s 1599for Henry Vand Hamlet.  Sometimes the link is more obscure, like when we read E.M. Forster’s Howard’s Endfor Bernard Shaw’s Heartbreak House.

How does the Book Club at Hartford Stage influence your relationship to a show?

In the case of Forster and Shaw, to use an example, the connections between their perspectives on the pre-war period in England were not ones we probably would have made on our own. So, the club’s discussion made us think differently about both the play and the novel.

Can you share a memorable book club moment?

There have been many memorable moments.  Director Jade King Carroll has come twice. Playwright Matthew Lopez came once. Darko (Tresnjak, Artistic Director) and Elizabeth (Williamson, Associate Artistic Director) have often been there. Hearing those artists discuss their work is always a thrill.  Usually, we’ve already seen the show; so, having the chance to ask about some of the choices they made is fantastic.  But I think the most memorable was the book club for Dan O’Brien’s Body of an American. We read O’Brien’s book of poetry, War Reporter. Then O’Brien and Paul Watson (subject of the play and poems) both came to book club.  They were mesmerizing, and meeting them made the material even more moving.