A rock bassist, a ballet dancer and a Disney princess were exalted in Connecticut Monday night.
The Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame hosted its 2018 ceremony and celebration Nov. 5 at the Connecticut Convention Center. The event marked the 25th anniversary of the hall and of its awards. Well over a hundred women have joined the Hall of Fame roster since 1993.
This year’s honors had an arts theme. The three inductees were the film and stage actress Anika Noni Rose, who is from Bloomfield, rock musician Tina Weymouth, who lives in Fairfield, and the late Lucia Chase, co-founder of American Ballet Theatre.
The Hall of Fame awards are given to women who either grew up in Connecticut, have been a longtime resident, or have made a notable contribution to the state.
In an interview before the ceremony, Weymouth was reminded of how fans would call out her name at Talking Heads shows.
“That’s the reason I got in trouble,” she says, laughing. “People screaming my name, that really unzipped David Byrne. He really couldn’t handle it.” With her next band, Tom Tom Club, Weymouth says she wanted to “do things as a model of the ways people can collaborate.”
She was modest about the night’s award: “When you get an award, it’s not really about you. It’s for all the people behind the scenes who went into making it happen. I’m not a diva.” Her latest project is an “electronic duo” album with her husband/bandmate Chris Franz, titled “Chris und Tina.”
Anika Noni Rose starred in the musical “Carmen Jones” at Classic Stage Company in New York City over the summer. She says she has just finished a new movie, “Body Cam.” On the day of the awards it was announced that Rose will star in and be the executive producer of the new TV series “Beast Mode” inspired by the life of boxer Ann Wolfe.
“I’m always looking for something different,” Rose said. “And I don’t like to bore people who like my work.” Among her career milestones are voicing Princess Tiana in the Disney film “The Princess and the Frog,” playing one of the “Dreamgirls” in the film version and creating the role of Emmie in the Broadway musical “Caroline, or Change.”
Lucia Chase, the famous 20th century ballet dancer and director, was represented at the ceremony by her granddaughter Caroline Ewing, who lived with Chase in her teens. “I’m thrilled to be here,” Ewing said, and “and she would be thrilled to be getting this.”
Besides the three Hall of of Fame inductees, there were a dozen “Women Center Stage Honorees,” most of whom had founded or run Connecticut-based non-profit arts organizations.
Each honoree gave a short speech. Tina Hadari, founder and former executive artistic director of Music Haven, ended her speech with “I believe in our power to re-imagine society going forward and plan to keep fighting for justice and equity to realize this possibility for our daughters.”
Julia Rosenblatt, co-founder of HartBeat Ensemble, read a statement that touched on current events: “What we seeing play out on the national stage right now is the result of women’s voices being ridiculed, belittled and silence. Whereas mainstream history has been predominantly recorded by white men, theater has the power to change the narrative and envision a future in which women are believed.”
The other honorees were poet/activist Èzili Dantò, Intempo founder Angelica Durrell, Grace Feldman of Neighborhood Music School, National Theater Institute Artistic Director Rachel Jett, Margaret Graham Dance Company veteran Peggy Lyman Hayes, Eastern Connecticut Ballet co-founders Lise Reardon and Gloria Govrin, Litchfield Performing Arts founder Vita West Muir and jazz flutist/bandleader Sherry Winston.
The hall’s Founding Presidents Award went to the Bushnell, whose executive vice president Ronna Reynolds mentioned that many artists who’ve been honored by the hall have appeared on The Bushnell stage.
Weymouth, who was born in California, has lived in Fairfield County since 1985 and says “I have adopted Connecticut as my home.” Chase was born in Waterbury, and maintained a house there for her entire life. Rose grew up in Bloomfield.
The actress says she “did all the sports — soccer, track… I played in the band. When she was introduced to musical theater in high school, however, she says “I stopped doing everything else.” Rose is still actively involved with Connecticut organizations such as the Charter Oak Cultural Center and the Foundation for Giving. “I’m a Connecticut girl. It’s always good for me to come home.”
Among the hundreds of attendees was “Doonesbury” cartoonist and Branford resident Garry Trudeau, who created a new initiative called “A Few Good Men” for the hall two years ago, after his wife Jane Pauley was honored.
“It’s my way in,” Trudeau said. “I try to encourage a lot of husbands.”
