Mission

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.

What We Do

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. Our success lies in whether the piece actually led people to take action toward greater justice or more freedom. Was each audience member able to look at the topic in a new light, from a slightly different perspective or with greater understanding? 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.
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.

In August 2019, HartBeat hired Artistic Director Godfrey L. Simmons, Jr.