Cheney Hall

03/12/2024

It's a beautiful day to remind ourselves how beautiful Cheney Hall is.

07/27/2023

WELCOME BACK TO LTM!
Sara Ballard (Velma) Sara is thrilled to be returning to the stage in her first production at The Little Theatre of Manchester.
She’s so excited to be playing the role of Velma in this production of CROWNS. Some of her previous roles include Asaka in Once on this Island, Mrs. Buckets in W***y Wonka, and Agwe in Once on This Island. She would like to thank everyone who has supported her during this time, especially her family and friends who helped her take care of her daughter Grace so that she could pursue what she loves. She is eternally grateful. See her in this November’s production of Beauty and the Beast! 🌹
August 4 — 20
Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 PM
Sundays at 2:00 PM
For tickets visit cheneyhall.org or call 860-647-9824

07/26/2023

03/16/2023

ABOUT THE PLAY:
THE ART OF DINING
By Tina Howe

Directed by Julie Carvalho & Billy Winter

Welcome to the Golden Carrousel! Cal and Ellen are the owners and sole staff of this small, elegant gourmet restaurant. Chef Ellen is preoccupied with the food's quality and stopping Cal from sampling the ingredients as they try to earn enough income to pay off their debt. The increasingly eccentric assortment of diners—a married couple getting passionate over the menu, a trio of indecisive bachelorettes, and a frantic writer on a business meeting—are going to turn this evening on its head!

About Evenings@7
These FREE presentations of intimate script-in-hand play readings are open to the public, and are ONE-NIGHT ONLY!

These performances are part of Little Theatre’s mission to develop art and artists. This series, featuring both established plays and musicals and new works, enables local talent to grow in their craft by performing for live audiences in a casual atmosphere with minimal production elements.

Shows are open to the public & free of charge, however, donations are gladly accepted.
For more information regarding the event, call the Box Office at 860-647-9824 or visit cheneyhall.org.

Friday, March 17, 2023
Cheney Hall
177 Hartford Rd. Manchester, CT
This event is free to attend but registration is required. Please follow the link below.
https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?performance=662793

12/19/2022

JOIN THE TEAM!
The Little Theatre of Manchester (LTM) is accepting submissions for production team roles for our 2023 season.
Join the fun, join the LTM Family!
PLEASE NOTE THESE ARE STIPEND POSITIONS!
Please submit your resume to our Technical Director: [email protected]

🌆SET DESIGN
👗COSTUMES
💡LIGHTS
📽️PROJECTIONS
⏱️PROPS
🎦STAGE MANAGEMENT

12/13/2022

JOIN THE TEAM!
The Little Theatre of Manchester (LTM) is accepting submissions for production team roles for our 2023 season.
Join the fun, join the LTM Family!

Please submit your resume to our Technical Director: [email protected]

🌆SET DESIGN
👗COSTUMES
💡LIGHTS
📽️PROJECTIONS
⏱️PROPS
🎦STAGE MANAGEMENT

04/03/2022

Why is Sonia so shocked? Is it because she just won Publishers Clearing House or that she is being asked out on a date?
Learn the true story April 2nd- 16th!
The Little Theatre of Manchester presents: "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike"!

For tickets visit www.cheneyhall.org or call 860-647-9824

04/01/2022

Old blue eyes comes to life at Cheney Hall on April 22nd!

Join us at for a night of Frank Sinatra music as performed by the talented Rich Dimare.

To listen to his music follow the link below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrV9Nllj0zw


Rich DiMare

03/26/2021

Can you help? VOTING ENDS THIS WEEKEND!

Vote for “The Little Theatre of Manchester” (if you can’t find us, we are alphabetized under the “T” section!)

Vote for an organization of your choice for our Cash Back to the Community program now through March 28th at American Eagle Financial Credit Union in CT.

04/30/2020

"The nicest thing about the rain is that it alway stops. Eventually."
Eeyore

04/15/2020

“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” -Walt Disney

Let us not forget the beauty of Cheney Hall, but mostly let us not forget that it is us, the community, that makes the dream of theatre a reality.

04/01/2020

The 1918 Spanish Flu and Cheney Hall

Over the years Cheney Hall has had many other uses such as graduations, weddings, theatre and even boxing exhibitions. But Cheney Hall also served as a hospital during the infamous flu epidemic of 1918, when the usually lively hall was filled with rows and rows of beds, dimly light and smelling of carbolic and ether.

The Cheney Brothers opened Cheney Hall to serve as a hospital in the crisis. This arrangement allowed the sick to be treated in isolation, preventing the remainder of the families from being infected.
Journal Inquirer
October 11, 2019

Photo Courtesy of Chris Huestis

02/28/2020

ALL ABOARD THE ORIENT EXPRESS! We have tickets available for Friday, Feb 28th & Saturday, Feb 29th both shows at 7:30 p.m. Call 860-647-9824 to grab your seat for the thrill ride of the season.

Last chance to see this "exceptional" work on our stage! - https://mailchi.mp/cheneyhall/whats-next-on-stage500

02/06/2020

A big thank you goes out to Linda Ferreira for repairing our "mini" Cheney Hall. This little version was built in the 1990's during the restoration of the 'big" Cheney Hall. It is back and greeting visitors into Cheney Hall everyday! Here's to another 30 years! Linda Ferreira

11/14/2019

09/25/2019

This will be happening tonight on the historic steps of Cheney Hall.

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08/23/2019

It's Rock and Roll Up Your Sleeve Day at Cheney Hall with the American Red Cross.

07/29/2019

The Little Theatre of Manchester (LTM) announced its 2020 season today, which marks the organization’s 60th year of producing theatre.

Following this season’s successful production of Ken Ludwig's THE GAME'S AFOOT, LTM will open its 2020 season in February with another Ludwig mystery, AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS. Next, the Pulitzer Prize finalist OTHER DESERT CITIES, a comedy-drama about a “messed-up, complicated” (according to the NY Post) family will take the stage in April. The first musical of LTM’s 2020 season is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s IN THE HEIGHTS, opening in June. Adapted from Elizabeth von Arnim's 1922 novel, ENCHANTED APRIL will delight audiences in August. The final musical is the romantic and beloved take on a classic fairytale, DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

LTM’s very first season began on March 3, 1961, with a production of Bus Stop by William Inge presented at the Bowers School Auditorium. Since that date, LTM has presented more than 1,100 performances of more than 200 plays and musicals at various venues throughout Manchester, the most recent being in Cheney Hall for the last 20 years,

The 60th Anniversary Season, will “both highlight the tremendous talent of our artists, as well as thrill our audiences,” according to Dwayne Harris, LTM’s Executive Director. “It’s a season full of grand adventure. From a ride through Europe on the Orient Express to a far, far away fairytale kingdom, from one of the most culturally vibrant neighborhoods on the island of Manhattan to the Mediterranean coast, these shows take our audiences around the globe and beyond.”

“Our 60th Anniversary Season is going to be a bash,” said LTM’s Artistic Director Debi Freund. “It’s such a wonderful birthday gift that we get to share with our patrons, and we can’t wait for them to see it!”

Current subscribers will receive their renewal packages in late September, and new subscription packages and single tickets will go on sale in December. All dates and titles are subject to change.

LTM’s 60th Anniversary Season

AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Adapted for the Stage by Ken Ludwig
February 14 – March 1, 2020

Book a passage today for the thrill-ride of the season! All board The Orient Express, the 1930s luxury train, as it carts us through central and eastern Europe from Istanbul. But beware…the train is about to go off the rails! An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. A train full of suspects with an alibi for each one and a killer in their midst sounds like the perfect mystery for detective Hercule Poirot. This first-ever stage adaptation of Agatha Christie’s masterpiece will leave audiences guessing whodunit.

OTHER DESERT CITIES
By Jon Robin Baitz
March 27 – April 11, 2020

Next, head to California, where a Palm Springs home at the holidays turns into a family battleground. Brooke Wyeth returns to her parents’ sunny home in Palm Springs for the Christmas holidays. But the Yuletide celebration doesn’t last for long—Brooke has explosive news she’s been waiting to share. Lookout, as generations clash politically— conservative parents, liberal offspring—and as verbal blows and jabs go flying, opening old wounds in this family’s past. This searing comedy-drama’s twists and turns are sure to leave audiences speechless.

IN THE HEIGHTS
Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda | Book by Quiara Alegría Hudes | Conceived By Lin-Manuel Miranda
June 5 – 21, 2020

Then it’s off to a place where the streets explode with the songs and rhythms of three generations. Step into the vibrant Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican community in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood. Featuring the stories of the Latino community, the salsa rhythms, Latin pop sounds, and frequently rapped lyrics, IN THE HEIGHTS was conceived, and the music and lyrics were written by, Lin-Manuel Miranda, perhaps best-known today as the creator of Hamilton. IN THE HEIGHTS is the winner of the 2008 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Choreography, and Best Orchestrations.

ENCHANTED APRIL
By Matthew Barber
August 7 – 23, 2020

From there, bask in the enchantment of Italy. Go back in time and across the globe as Elizabeth von Arnim's 1920s novel comes to life on stage! In search of grand romance, two frustrated London housewives rent a villa in Italy for a ladies-only holiday. But when an aging matron and a young socialite join them, not even the pleasures of the Mediterranean sun, gardens, sea, cinnamon, and pasta are enough to keep these ladies from clashing. Can they bond and bloom, ultimately finding their lost selves?

DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Music by Alan Menken | Lyrics by Howard Ashman Tim Rice | Book by Linda Woolverton
November 6 – 22, 2020

Finally, “Be Our Guest” on a trip to the enchanted world of this classic fairytale. This modern Broadway classic will be a musical experience the whole family can share and enjoy! The “tale as old as time” of a young woman from a provincial town and a beast who has to learn to love and be loved is magically brought to life with spectacular costumes and captivating musical numbers including “Be Our Guest,” “Something There,” and the Tony-winning title song, “Beauty and the Beast.” Join the Beast, Belle, Gaston, Le Fou, Lumiere, and friends as they embark on a grand journey filled with adventure, cheer, and love.

05/29/2019

Little Theatre of Manchester, Inc.

Join us live now!

05/24/2019

Below is a brief history of the Historic Cheney Hall. Please join us on Saturday, June 8th from 10am - 2pm to take a tour of Cheney Hall and to learn how you can volunteer with The Little Theatre of Manchester.

Cheney Hall, an elegant Victorian structure, was designed by Hammat Billings of Boston in 1866 for Cheney Brothers Company, renowned silk industrialists.

The Hall was built as a theatre and cultural community facility for Manchester. The architecture is that of the French Second Empire Style with medieval and renaissance characteristics. Architectural features include a Mansard roof, segmented and full circle windows, brick and brownstone arches, intricate corbelled cornices, carved oak and chestnut trim in arabesque patterns and an 1866 E. & G. G. Hook tracker organ built into the rear stage wall. Visit http://www.cheneyhall.org to learn more.

05/17/2019

The Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall (LTM) will host a Cheney Hall Open House on Saturday, June 8, 2019, from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm as part of Connecticut Open House Day 2019.

Highlights of the Open House will include information about LTM programs and volunteer opportunities; a sneak peek of behind-the-scenes work with members of the production staff, and guided tours of the historic Cheney Hall, an 1867 /Victorian structure built as a theatre and cultural community facility for Manchester;

For more information, please contact Cheney Hall at 177 Hartford Road, Manchester, CT, 860-647-9824, or [email protected].