New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Theater tour targets underserved youth under new name
NEW CANAAN — The young audience touring company of the Summer Theatre of New Canaan will help reach underserved schools this year under a new name.
The program is now called the Bennack-Lake School Tour to honor Frank A. Bennack Jr., executive vice chairman and former CEO of Hearst Corporation, and his wife, Dr. Mary Lake Polan, a Yale University professor.
“We need to care about that future generation and the arts,” Bennack told the audience of more than 100 at the Time to Start Living gala Saturday at the Country Club of New Canaan. Bennack and Polan were among this year's honorees, which also included George Faison, Tony Award-winning choreographer of “The Wiz.”
The tour will visit underserved schools across Connecticut, performing “Stoopkids Stories LIVE,” a show about seven innercity Black children ages 5 and up. It's based on a podcast written and adapted by Melissa Victor that has prompted 100,000 listens.
Victor said the children in Stoopkids aren't talking about guns or drugs, but instead, “learning how to stand up for themselves, learning about friendship and community.”
She came up with the idea during the pandemic.
“God gave me the idea to create a podcast telling stories about Black kids, for Black kids to listen to while they're sitting at home, in a car ride,” Victor said.
The gala's host and artistic director of the summer theater, Melody Libonati, approached Victor to adapt her podcast “Stoopkid Stories” for theater.
Victor said she feels it is important for “Black kids to see themselves represented,” as well as to be seen performing by “kids who did not look like them.”
The gala also honored Faison with the creation of the Faison Student Outreach, a program that will introduce new and at-risk communities to the STONC's summer shows. Faison is known for mentoring underserved youth through programs offered at the Faison Firehouse Theater in Harlem.
Bennack and Polan became benefactors of the summer theater program several years ago after taking their grandchildren to a STONC production of “Peter Pan.”
Bennack modestly introduced himself as someone who went from
“Who's who, to who's that?” though he is still executive vice chairman of Hearst Corporation, chairman of the company's executive committee and a trustee of the Hearst Family Trust.
Hearst owns Hearst Connecticut Media Group, which includes the Stamford Advocate, Norwalk Hour and the New Canaan Advertiser.
During Bennack's two stints as Hearst's CEO, totaling 28 years, the company acquired the rating agency Fitch Group; the health care guidance provider MCG; Lagardère's 100 international magazine titles outside of France; and multiple newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Now he sits on boards of philanthropic organizations, including as chairman of the New YorkPresbyterian Hospital. With Polan, he recently endowed a professorship at Yale University.
She served as chairman of obstetrics at Sanford University School of Medicine before returning as professor of clinical obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive Sciences at the Yale University School of Medicine. To help African women, Polan organized a team of surgical volunteers in East Africa to help women recover from prolonged labor in childbirth, according to the National Institute of Health.
Bennack's affinity for theater came naturally, since his father had him on stage at age 6, he had a radio show at 16, and a television program at 17, he told the audience at the gala.
“I was the poor man's Dick Clark,” Bennack said.
With Bennack's interest in television, Hearst forged partnerships with cable networks ABC (now the Walt Disney Company), A&E, HISTORY and Lifetime while he was CEO. He was also instrumental in creating what is known today as Hearst Television Inc, which operates 33 television stations.
With him at the helm, Hearst also launched O, The Oprah Magazine; Country Living; Food Network Magazine; HGTV Magazine and Marie
Claire.
At the gala, Bennack urged those in attendance to support the summer theater.
“What they do is indispensable in the world we live today,” he said.
During the gala's auction, competitive bidding ensued when Faison offered to give a tour of his theater in Harlem. He founded the theater in 2000 after it was once home to the Hook and Ladder No. 40 Co. The theater now has a 350-seat auditorium, dance and rehearsal space and a recording studio. His Firehouse Respect Project mentors underserved youth in the tri-state area, especially those in Harlem.
"I'm so glad you reached out to me, because I thought I was kind of like retired,” he said with a smile to Libonati.
Faison will direct and choreograph the Summer Theatre's upcoming show “Once on This Island,” which will be performed in Waveny Park, starting July 7.
The choreographer's career started as a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which he left to start George Faison Universal Dance Experience. He has choreographed more than two dozen musicals, including “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue” on Broadway; “Porgy and Bess” at Radio City Music Hall; and “Sing, Mahalia, Sing” at the Shubert Theater in Philadelphia.
Faison won an Emmy Award for his choreography of “The Josephine Baker Story” on HBO. In 1997, he directed and choreographed “King,” a musical performed at Bill Clinton's inauguration.
He also choreographed and staged concerts for Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Ashford and Simpson, and Earth Wind and Fire. He has directed performances throughout the United States.