Press & Reviews

A Broken Umbrella Makes (A)Pizza A Family Affair

Feature on A Slice at Next Door, the work-in-progress apizza musical that seeded Family Business.

Apizza, empanada-making among New Haven Arts & Ideas food events

Arts & Ideas food-event roundup naming A Slice as a preview of a longer theatrical work about New Haven-style apizza.

Boitatá Takes Over Halloween Night

Post-performance coverage of East Rock Halloween Project’s Boitatá and the multi-artist, garage-to-garage Halloween production.

Boitatá Halloween

Preview coverage of Boitatá as a coalition of theater professionals creating a socially distanced East Rock Halloween experience.

New Haven-based artists set out to save Halloween

Television coverage of New Haven-based artists creating a trick-or-treat live performance during COVID-19.

The Operator Will Connect You Now

Feature on Exchange as a City-Wide Open Studios commission rooted in the history of New Haven’s telephone exchange.

City Connects To Telephonic History

Coverage of Exchange and its collection of phone memories, switchboard history, and intergenerational New Haven stories.

A Broken Umbrella troupe plugging into local history for next project, Exchange

Development coverage of Exchange, the Mobile Story Exchange, and public story-gathering around New Haven phone history.

Family Business: (A) Pizza Play, and a Cultural Revelation in New Haven

Feature connecting Family Business to New Haven Italian American food culture and one audience member’s broader apizza journey.

Apizza Hits The Stage

Review of Family Business at CitySeed, highlighting its humor, emotion, turntable set, and New Haven apizza references.

(A)Pizza Play

Coverage of the BAR Pizza preview party for Family Business and its upcoming Arts & Ideas premiere.

Show about New Haven pizza premieres Friday during International Festival of Arts & Ideas

Preview coverage of Family Business as a fuller version of A Slice and a site-specific production at CitySeed.

A freewheeling way with history

Arts Paper feature on Freewheelers and A Broken Umbrella’s history-driven approach to turning New Haven places into performance.

A Broken Umbrella Theatre spins a uniquely New Haven tale in 'Freewheelers'

Feature on Freewheelers, its Arts & Ideas premiere, and the New Haven history connecting bicycles, corsets, and women’s freedom.

We Like Bikes

New Haven Review coverage describing Head Over Wheels as an engaging outdoor ArtWalk performance beside the West River.

Pierre Rides Again

Preview coverage of Head Over Wheels as a bike-themed, site-specific musical inspired by Pierre Lallement and New Haven cycling history.

ARTS PICK: 'Marvel' at Edgewood is stuff dreams are made of

Arts pick coverage of iMarvel returning to Edgewood Park after Westville ArtWalk, with puppets, dance, singing, spectacle, and a 14-foot dragon puppet.

The Show Must Go On

New Haven Review mention of The Library Project and its moving audience journey through the historic Ives Main Library.

A Tree Grows on Elm Street

Feature on A Broken Umbrella’s collaborative process during The Library Project, connecting site research to original New Haven storytelling.

Sounds Like Fun

Theater blog notice describing Made of New Haven as a one-day grassroots gala with songs and spectacle from the company’s first seven years.

Campaign puts focus on New Haven-made products, innovation

Coverage of the Made in New Haven campaign that includes A Broken Umbrella performers sampling Made of New Haven before the Erector Square event.

Broken Umbrella takes us to a boiler room for its Halloween show

Preview coverage of Play With Matches in the Blake Street boiler room and its Ebenezer Beecher match-factory history.

Westville Celebrates Sunny ArtWalk

ArtWalk coverage noting three performances of Where the Rubber Met the Road and its Whalley Avenue paving-history premise.

Wear solid shoes for frantic 'Seen Change!' at Shubert Theatre

Preview coverage of Seen Change! at the Shubert and Taft Hotel, including the production’s scale, local-history frame, and moving audience journey.

A Broken Umbrella Plays Into Its First Decade

Retrospective coverage naming the first Edgewood Park performance and tracing the company from ArtWalk into its later New Haven work.

Edgewood Park profile mentions Thunderbolt

Edgewood Park feature with a photo caption and mention of A Broken Umbrella artists presenting Thunderbolt in the tunnel.

In a spooky part of Edgewood Park: Pirate of Westville comes to life in Thunderbolt

Preview coverage of the Halloween tunnel performance in Edgewood Park, including the Capt. Thunderbolt source story and Friends of Edgewood Park partnership.

Who Thought Murder in Westville Could Be So Much Fun?

Event notice and production details for VaudeVillain, including dates, venue, creative team, and the Westville murder-history premise.

'VaudeVillain,' a murder done up Broken Umbrella Theatre style

Feature on the Lyric Hall production, its 1913 Westville murder source material, and the audience journey through the restored venue.

Connecticut Critics Circle Awards — Special Contributions to Theater

“Recognized in the Gilbert the Great era.”

Connecticut Critics Circle recognition during the Gilbert the Great period.

New Haven Arts Council Arts Awards: Great Adaptations

“A Broken Umbrella Theatre is never going to be considered another community theater company.”

Early recognition of the company's originality and transformation-focused approach to making theater in New Haven.

OnStage Critics Award for Outstanding Professional Production

“Awarded for Seen Change!”

The Shubert commission earned the OnStage Critics Award for Outstanding Professional Production.

Family Business Charts Apizza Through the Generations

“A gentle, genuine, totally delightful homage to New Haven pizza and its real-life matriarchs.”

A positive review positioning Family Business as both local-history storytelling and an affectionate portrait of New Haven apizza culture.

Hartford Courant review of Freewheelers

“Broken Umbrella Theatre shows in this work that its artistry is as great as any major theater in Connecticut.”

A strong endorsement of Freewheelers and the scale of artistry brought to a transformed warehouse production.

New Haven Review coverage of Freewheelers

“Freewheelers, with its effective score and songs by Chrissy Gardner, does a fine job of combining the troupe's historical interests with a contemporary vibe.”

A review highlighting Freewheelers as a musical and historical blend with strong contemporary energy.

Hartford Courant review of Gilbert the Great

“This very talented theater company once again shows its theatrical ingenuity as it mines local history and spins an imaginative tale that transcends mere biography and New Haven boosterism.”

A review that places Gilbert the Great within the company's pattern of turning New Haven history into theatrical spectacle.

New Haven Review review of Gilbert the Great

“Fast, loose, with an almost telepathic sense of how to make its multiple character scenes, occurring in multiple locations, jell to impart information and entertain, Gilbert the Great is a fittingly ambitious tribute to this many-sided patriarch.”

A review praising the multi-site staging and ensemble energy of the A.C. Gilbert production.

New Haven Independent feature on Gilbert the Great

“A. C. Gilbert's life and legacy is the subject of the latest production by A Broken Umbrella theater company, which has made a name for itself by delving into New Haven's past to produce original site-specific theater around town.”

A feature introducing Gilbert the Great through the company's established local-history and site-specific practice.

New Haven Register feature on Gilbert the Great

“The play takes place in 1954, as a mismatched crew of workers struggles to invent the next great toy kit for the company that was famous for its Erector Set.”

A local preview feature connecting Gilbert the Great to both New Haven history and the Erector Square site.

New Haven Independent on Head Over Wheels

“An overflow crowd watched… actors turn New Haven cycling history into modern musical mayhem in 'Head Over Wheels.'”

New Haven Independent review of the Blake Street bicycle-history show and its packed, enthusiastic audience.

New Haven Register on Head Over Wheels

“Known for its site-specific original works, the company has transformed the outdoor space of The Smokestack into a bike shop set that looks so authentic, cyclists have stopped to ask if a new bike shop has opened.”

New Haven Register coverage of the Head Over Wheels ArtWalk installation and its convincing site transformation.

New Haven Register feature on The Library Project

“The New Haven Free Public Library wraps up its 125th anniversary year with The Library Project, an original commissioned work by the award-winning theater company.”

Coverage of the commissioned library production and its use of the building itself as performance architecture.

The Arts Paper feature on the company's site-specific mission

“Adhering to the company's founding mission and principles, the troupe seeks to enhance community appreciation, education, and awareness through live performance and theater....A Broken Umbrella Theatre thrives on researching and renovating site-specific spaces to illuminate the legend and lore of New Haven's historic past.”

A feature that captures the company's mission in language that still maps closely to its public identity.

A Broken Umbrella Plays Into Its First Decade

“A look at A Broken Umbrella's first decade and the site-specific, ensemble-built identity that carried the company from park shows to city-wide recognition.”

A decade marker article reflecting on the company's growth, history-forward storytelling, and evolving place within New Haven.

New Haven Independent feature on the company's collaborative process

“A Broken Umbrella productions are born out of a freewheeling collaborative brainstorming process involving on-site inspiration from unexpected performance spaces, deep research into New Haven history, and flights of fancy.”

A concise statement of the company's process that remains useful as organizational framing on the public site.

New Haven Register feature on the company's transformation instinct

“A Broken Umbrella Theatre is never going to be considered another community theater company, even though entertaining community with original productions in unexpected places is its raison d'etre.”

Legacy coverage connecting the company's identity to original productions in unexpected places.

New Haven Review on Play With Matches

“A Broken Umbrella Theatre is noted for developing original works to stage in unlikely and/or inspiring places and, with the set and setting in Play With Matches they've made a striking match.”

Donald Brown notes the company's distinctive site-specific instinct and how well it serves this particular show.

New Haven Theater Jerk review of Play With Matches

“Play With Matches scores with solid preparation, elegant presentation, awesome ambience, ambitious scripting and audacious acting.”

A strong endorsement of the Halloween boiler-room production and its multi-layered storytelling.

Hartford Courant review of Seen Change!

“It's lovingly presented, imaginatively staged and enthusiastically performed....show biz heaven.”

A standout critical response to the Shubert commission and its backstage-meets-New Haven framing.

Hartford Courant: Seen Change! a valentine to the Shubert

“What starts off as an era-mashing "Noises Off" eventually turns into a valentine to the Shubert — celebrating its 100th anniversary — and to theater itself and all the people who help make it.”

The Hartford Courant's take on the celebratory, theatrical heart of Seen Change! and its Shubert tribute.

Daily Nutmeg review of Seen Change!

“The play's musical side really takes flight, powered by strong vocal performances and a very strong pit band, plus great tap dance performances.... Head to the theater.”

A local review emphasizing the show's musical engine and performance energy.

New Haven Independent: Seen Change! a tribute to the Shubert

“A tribute to the Shubert, New Haven theater, and the dedication of theater workers, Seen Change! finds comedy and romance in the drama of putting on a show while putting on a show.”

Donald Brown's full-length review of Seen Change! as both theatrical tribute and New Haven love letter.

New Haven Independent review of Seen Change!

“Broken Umbrella's most ambitious work to date... It surprises and impresses with its resourcefulness and its bravura love for theater as a communal experience.”

A review emphasizing ambition, theatricality, and the show's love letter to theater as a public, communal form.

On Blake Street, A Broken Umbrella Grows a Community Theater Hub

“The Blake Street project is framed as more than a home for A Broken Umbrella: it is a wider cultural resource for New Haven artists.”

Early feature coverage of plans to transform 280 Blake Street into a multi-use community arts hub.

A Blake Street Arts Incubator Inches Forward

“The Umbrella is moving from dream to development as A Broken Umbrella Theatre keeps building public support for a permanent arts home.”

Follow-up coverage on the Blake Street project as planning and fundraising continue to move forward.

Broken Umbrella Developing New Space for Arts

“The coverage centers the building as cultural infrastructure for artists who need affordable, professional space outside downtown.”

New Haven Independent coverage of plans for 280 Blake Street and its role in the city's creative-space ecosystem.

'Sought-After' Blake Street Building Sold to New Haven Theater Group

“The purchase of 280 Blake Street marks A Broken Umbrella Theatre's shift from temporary occupier of other spaces to steward of a permanent arts home.”

Local coverage of the building purchase that made The Umbrella project possible.