By David Fortier 

Come Sunday morning, Mary and I will have attended another Hartford Stage production, this time Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, starring Marsha Mason, who also co-directed. She was terrific, as was the entire production. The semi-autobiographical play takes place in Yonkers, when a dad has to deal with some extenuating circumstances from a loan and leaves his two boys with their grandmother, the dad’s mother, and her other children. 

I am still a bit crowd-shy, since by all accounts, we are still dealing with a highly contagious virus, and perhaps another strain—over the past week I am acquainted with at least five new cases of people I see daily. But Hartford Stage checks vaccination cards and requires masking, so I feel fairly confident when I attend productions; on the other hand, I am a bit conflicted over this: the audiences have been between a quarter to a third full, which makes me feel better but does not help with receipts. 

Either way I am grateful for having such a wonderful theater so close, and, yes, there is nothing like live theater.  

And something to note: I don’t know how many years ago it was, I could count but won’t, Mary and I, for our first date, went to a Neil Simon movie, The Goodbye Girl, starring Marsha Mason. This time around, as empty nesters, we are back where we started, attending another Neil Simon production starring Marsha Mason. 

Last Sunday, I watched the UConn women in another NCAA championship, one in which they fell short, playing their hearts out against a very talented and taller South Carolina. I can’t believe that was just a week ago. I didn’t even attempt to stay awake for the men’s final. And, as far as national sports goes, baseball season is upon us. Every time I call my mom, most afternoons, there has been excitement in the air, especially since her favorite basketball player, Steph Curry, is injured. 

This is spring break for schools, and the one thing I am looking forward to, aside from some downtime, is a trip to Tommy’s on Stafford Ave. I will have to report back. 

Regarding TBE business, we are slowly raising funds needed to hire reporters to cover city hall. So whatever you can do to help support us would be great; small or large, it doesn’t matter as long as it is something. I have written in some of our promotional material about costs that we have incurred and will continue to incur. The one thing I have not mentioned, and will now, is that all of our stories have been produced without paying anyone. That needs to change if we are going to expand our coverage. 

We love doing what we are doing, but from the beginning the idea has been to create a community news venue that provides real quality local coverage, coverage that our community will recognize and support—because better information, more pertinent information makes a difference to what we are and can become as a whole. The way to recognize this effort and help us get closer to this goal of complete coverage of our community is to help fund us. It only takes a minute, by clicking here to return to our homepage and hitting the “Beecome A Member” or “Donate” button. 

For this week’s reading/listening activity, try Ezra Klein’s conversation with Fiona Hill on whether Ukraine can win its war with Russia and what happens if Russia loses. Click here. Scroll down the page until you reach the correct conversation.  

“Come Sunday morning” is intended to be a weekly review, a recounting of the past week and an anticipation of week to come. Among its features will be reviews of old and new books, sharing of favorite podcasts, some family news, Bristol events and happenings and issues surrounding education, work and community journalism. He can be reached at dfortier@bristoledition.org. 

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