Athol Fugard Play: HeartBeat Ensemble in Hartford is presenting Athol Fugard’s play My Children! My Africa! from Thursday, Sept. 29 to Sunday, Oct. 9. Fugard, a South African, is known for his works dealing with apartheid. In this play, a teacher prepares a prized Black student and a white Afrikaner student to compete together for an academic prize. For tickets visit HeartBeatEnsemble.org.

Tony Award Winners: Fun Home won the Tony for best musical in 2015 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. It will open the TheaterWorks – Harford season Saturday, Oct. 8 running to Sunday, Oct. 30. The cast includes three Broadway veterans–Aaron Lazar, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, and Christiane Noll who won raves in the TheaterWorks-Hartford production of Next to Normal. For tickets visit TWHartford.org.

Fourth in the Series: Center Stage Theater in Shelton is presenting the fourth show about the Marvelous Wonderettes, a ‘50s girls singing group. This one has the group returning to their high school to throw a retirement party for a favorite teacher. Later they are at their 20-year reunion. You can expect lots of close harmony and hits of both the ‘50s and’70’s. It runs from Friday, Oct. 14 to Sunday, Oct. 23. For tickets visit CenterStageShelton.org.

Late Night Drama: The Yale Rep is opening its season with Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? from Thursday, Oct. 6 to Saturday, Oct. 29. James Bundy, the artistic director, directs this production about a middle-aged married couple, alcohol, arguments and delusions. It is best known for the film version that starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. For information or tickets visit YaleRep.org.

Fringe Festival in Hartford: The 3rd Annual Hartford Fringe Festival will be held Thursday, Oct. 20 through Sunday, Oct. 30. It will include theater, dance, improv, storytelling, performance art and more from artists and performers throughout the region and the country. It is at the Carriage Theatre on Farmington Ave. in Hartford. For information about the schedule and tickets visit HartfordFringeFestival.org.

Jazz Great’s Decline: Playhouse on Park is opening the season with Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill from Wednesday, Sept. 28 to Sunday, Oct. 16. Lady Day was the nickname for the great singer Billie Holiday. This play, set in 1959 just months before her death, shows her performing at a seedy bar in Philadelphia. The Tony-winning play features many of her powerful songs. For tickets visit PlayhouseOnPark.org.

2023 Season: Westport Country Playhouse has released its schedule for next year, its 93rd season. The theater will return to three-week runs of each work; the runs had been reduced to two weeks this season. The season begins with the long-scheduled and rescheduled Ain’t Misbehavin’ from April 11 to April 29, followed by a reimagining of Dial “M” for Murder from May 30 to June 17. From Aug. 29 to Sept. 16 will be a world premiere modern translation and adaptation of Sophocles’ Antigone. The season will end with School Girls or The African Mean Girls Play from Oct. 25 to Nov. 11. One production for July will be announced. Subscriptions are available at WestportPlayhouse.org.

New York City News: Father and son, Reed and Ephraim Birney will star in the Irish Rep production of Chester Bailey about a young man recovering from a WWII wound and his doctor. It runs from Wednesday, Oct. 12 to Sunday, Nov. 13. Lea Michele is now Fanny Brice in the revival of Funny Girl. The show has added what is called an “interlude”–the song “I’d Rather Be Blue Over You” which Brice actually sang in a 1928 movie. Josh Groban is returning to Broadway this February in a revival of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd with Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett. The show will feature a 26-piece orchestra and the original orchestrations. The revival of Into the Woods has announced what it is calling its “final extension” through January 8.

Karen Isaacs is an East Haven resident. To check out her reviews for New York and Connecticut shows, visit 2ontheaisle.wordpress.com. She’s a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle, New York’s Outer Critics Circle, the League of Professional Theater Women and the American Theatre Critics Association.