Best Acting Schools Hartford Near Me

4worldlovers: On any given day, you'll spy (or hear!) Hartt students refining their talents around campus. Add a nice day in the mix...they just might be outside for all to enjoy. Case in point: look at what we happened upon this af...

Meet the Cast of Hartt Theatre Division’s upcoming mainstage play, Trojan Women!

Experience a new perspective on modern war brutality and its effects on the women of Troy. This incredible production is FRE...

We're nearly 'winded' with excitement to share that Hartt's very own Glen Adsit and James Jackson III are the new co-directors of Capitol Symphonic Winds ("Cap Winds"), an ensemble of the harttcommunitydivision. If you ...

We spy... University of Hartford students (from The Hartt School Dance Division) in Amsterdam! They spent two weeks at a summer dance intensive and also had an opportunity to perform and experience the acclaimed JuliDan...

Hartt's Javon Jackson is featured in the latest issue of DownBeat Magazine! Jackson is professor of jazz and director of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, but he's also a saxophonist, recording artist, entrepreneur, ...

#HarttSummerstock: Kennedy Thompson (MT ‘25) Congratulations to Kennedy who will be joining Ocean City Theatre Company this Summer! She will be playing Sally in The Cat in the Hat (July 11), Little Red in Little Red ...

#HarttSummerstock: Jordan Cyr (MT ‘25) Congratulations to Jordan who will be joining the company of Jean’s Playhouse this summer! He will be playing Door Guard/Ensemble in Wizard of Oz (July 6-8), The Steward/Ensembl...

We love seeing our Alumni putting their passion into a profession...and then soaring even higher.

Recently, the Sphinx Organization, a social justice group dedicated to transforming lives through the power of...

Mehmet Dede, Associate Professor of Music and Performing Arts Management in @theharttschool was awarded the Donald W. Davis University Interdisciplinary Studies Award for the '22-'23 AY.

#HarttSummerstock: Shelby Barrett-Whitmore (AT ‘26) Congratulations to Shelby who will be joining the company of Cape Cod Shakespeare Festival in Chatham this summer! She will be playing Audrey in As You Like It and ...

Reviewers have called Gordon Green’s music “wonderfully evocative,” “twisted,” and “terrifically inspired.” His CD-length re...

Congrats to the cast and crew of Godspell on their amazing run

Here are a few of our favorite moments from the production!

Described as writing music which “emanated a variety of aromatic incenses” (pianofortephilia, 2022) and having “rich...

Come join us April 27th-30th in McCray Theater at HPAC! Seats WILL BE AVAILABLE if you come early to put your name on the waitlist!!

It's tech day today for some of our Dance students...in NYC! They will perform tomorrow (April 22) at The Joyce Theater as part of the Martha Graham Dance Company's season. We're so excited for them...and we think they...

Sabrina takes us behind the scenes in the upcoming Hartt Dances performance(s)…catch a performance of these amazing students from the The Hartt School Dance Division in Lincoln Theater April 13-14 at 7:30 p.m., and April...

First up is Alan Mackwell who is described as "an original composer with new ideas and a command of complex symphonic writing" (BroadStreet Journal). New Zealander-American Al...

The Hartt Percussion Ensemble presents an evening of West African drumming and dance, featuring Guest Artist Joe Galeota, and with special guest dancers from the Berklee College of Music.

4worldlovers:
Founded in 2001, HartBeat Ensemble's mission is to create provocative theater that connects our community beyond traditional barriers of race, gender, class and geography.


HartBeat Ensemble is the only institution in Hartford that is consistently using theater to speak powerfully across different generations, races, populations and interest groups. As an ensemble of artist-activists, we create as well as present innovative productions based on critical civic issues. HartBeat offers audiences the chance to experience and respond to the work they have just seen through live performance and guided conversations. HartBeat’s original, full-length creative works, including the award-winning Flipside, the critically acclaimed Jimmy & Lorraine, and this year's sold-out hit Pegao by Ensemble member Cin Martinez. HartBeat continues to inspire the next generation of leaders to create change for a better world through its Youth Play Institute.

HartBeat is an artist-led, artist-driven company dedicated to building community partnerships and helping to integrate the arts into our community’s civic agenda. We continue to:


Serve as an intersection for innovative contemporary art and community engagement,


Play a bold leadership role in positioning art as a catalyst for community change and collaborating with others to realize a shared vision for the community and the arts,

Provide youth-focused training opportunities that inspire and empower young people to make a difference in their lives and the world around them;

Serve as an incubator of non-traditional and contemporary art, and a home for a broad spectrum of CT and other artists; and

Share a physical space that is open to artists and community.

In 2013, HartBeat moved into the Carriage House Theater located on Farmington Avenue in Hartford. Our home provides an opportunity for HartBeat to produce a season of events that extends beyond our mainstage and education productions and to create a unique space for artists and the community to gather and experience live performance as well as engage in community conversations. Click Carriage House Rentals for more information on our community rental program!

Simmons is an award-winning actor, producer, director, and playwright who has spent thirty years amplifying the voices of marginalized people and communities. He brings with him an extensive background working with ensembles, as an actor (Off-Broadway and regional theaters), teacher, director, playwright and producer. In 2012, he co-founded Civic Ensemble, a regional theatre in Ithaca, NY. He was a Producing Artist for Off-Broadway’s Epic Theatre Ensemble for four years, appearing in a dozen productions. He also co-wrote and starred with Brandt Adams in a documentary play about the election of President Barack Obama, Dispatches From (A)mended America after interviewing 100 Southerners about the election. He won the 1999 Audelco Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance opposite Leslie Uggams in The Old Settler at Primary Stages.

In addition to teaching acting at Cornell, he is a lifetime member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and sits on the board of the Network of Ensemble Theaters.

HartBeat’s Education Programs, inspired by Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed, teaches theater as form of conflict resolution, civic engagement and deeper learning.