And you thought YOUR parents were up in everyone's business. As the child of small-town gynecologists, comedy writer Claire Ayoub (Empire Waist, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls) experienced an untraditional and often mortifying adolescence destined to end in therapy—and comedy. Join her for a delightfully cringeworthy walk down memory lane and learn what being a GynoKid is all about. To learn more, visit: www.claireayoub.com/thegynokid

After an award-winning run at the FRIGID Fringe Festival (Best Solo Comedy, Top Grossing-The Kraine Theater, EstroGenius Award), The GynoKid was asked back as part of the EstroGenius Festival… and now headed to New Canaan where it all began!   Join Claire at the Powerhouse Theatre in Waveny Park on Mother's Day Weekend.  

RUNNING TIME

90 minutes (60 minute show, immediately followed by a NOT-TO-BE-MISSED audience talk-back and interview with Claire and her parents, Dr. Tom Ayoub and mid-wife Christine Dombrowski.)

REVIEWS:

“Ayoub delivers this deeply personal hourlong monologue with finely honed timing and thespian body language. She pulls us along with the force of feeling and the finesse of hard practice. Skillfully she makes us laugh at lines that wouldn't be funny on the page. As she makes us feel every embarrassing moment, she reveals much about her inner life, while sketching a warm, loving portrait of her parents. And makes us laugh again and again.” - JON SOBEL, BLOGCRITICS

"Ayoub absorbingly leads us through her development from precocious child to prudish adolescent (prudishness functioning as her not-as-successful-as-hoped method of rebellion) who puts off going to the gynecologist herself for as many years as possible. Being a GynoKid comes to seem more troublesome to her as both she and her peers become more aware of what her parents' jobs involve, but it also involves moments that stoke her pride in what her family does for the community. Her struggles with being a GynoKid are also intertwined with another struggle that lasts into her adulthood and which finds succinct symbolization in a piece of baggage that is the show's only prop.  Ayoub observes that comedy helped her through dark times, and she demonstrates her mastery of the form with a captivating stage presence."  - JOHN R. ZIEGLER and LEAH RICHARDS

TOWN PLAYERS OF NEW CANAAN - HISTORY OF THE POWERHOUSE THEATRE

In 1979, the original Power House to the Waveny Estate, located in what is now Waveny Park, stood empty and purposeless, falling prey to vandalism and deterioration. At the same time, the Town Players of New Canaan were looking for a home, a place to store costumes, build sets and perform. It was a perfect match that the abandoned building and the homeless Town Players should come together. The task of restoring the powerhouse and converting it to a theater, however, was a monumental undertaking and required serious fundraising and the efforts of hundreds of volunteers over a three-year period.  The result is a intimate 115-seat theater for the community to enjoy.

Since opening in 1983, the Town Players of New Canaan at the Powerhouse Theatre has performed hundreds of productions, staged readings, special events, theater educational classes and workshops, run children’s programs, etc., and is still going strong.  During Covid, we had a few months to step back and re-evaluate, and we decided it was time to come back even better!  In working again with the Town of New Canaan, we will be doubling the size of our lobby, updating to current ADA compliant restrooms, and hopefully establishing the additional Shed Theatre on the property to expand our theater education program, and well as providing a black-box theater for unique and intriguing productions.

The Town Players of New Canaan is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit community theater now in our 76th Year.  Established in 1946, we moved from place to place until finding our forever home.  We hope you will join us in your support of the new Powerhouse Performing Arts Center.

Visit TPNC.ORG website