The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts will present the Connecticut premiere of Right Before I Go in a unique virtual staging of the play on Saturday, October 10 at 8 p.m. Proceeds from the benefit performance will enable programming of this nature to continue at the Quick, and will benefit two suicide awareness and prevention charities: the JED Foundation (JEDFoundation.org) and the Connecticut chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (afsp.org).

In Right Before I Go, Stan Zimmerman (The Golden Girls, Roseanne, Gilmore Girls) brings to life the last words written in letters by individuals lost to suicide — including veterans, those bullied, the heartsick, the mentally ill, and the achingly lonely — and those who have survived suicide attempts. Since its acclaimed first performance at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2015, the play has traveled across the country, raising awareness and offering hope for suicide prevention.

As described on broadwayworld.com, “This poignant, deeply moving, and surprisingly light play invokes a raw and authentic approach to storytelling in an effort to help broaden public perspective of suicide, eliminate the stigma associated with depression, and strengthen the relationship between survivors and those struggling every day.”

Vanessa Williams, Blair Underwood, and Hari Nef will bring star power to the October 10 performance of Right Before I Go. Williams' critically acclaimed music, stage, and screen career includes Broadway roles in The Trip to Bountiful (2013), After Midnight (2014), and Hey, Look Me Over (2018). Underwood made his Broadway debut in the 2012 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire and most recently starred in A Soldier's Play. Model and writer Nef's acting career began in the Amazon Original series Transparent; she starred in the 2018 film Assassination Nation and the Lifetime thriller You. 

Acclaimed Broadway and Off-Broadway director Michael Wilson (Enchanted April, The Trip to Bountiful) will direct this unique performance of Right Before I Go, in which actors will participate virtually through narrated readings from remote “safe spaces.” After the performance, there will be a live panel discussion including child and adolescent psychiatrist Andrew Gerber, MD, and Michael Groat, PhD, chief clinical officer of Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Conn.

In association with R. Erin Craig / La Vie Productions, this presentation of Right Before I Go is part of the Quick’s Global Theatre performance series curated by Broadway and Off-Broadway producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld, who believes firmly that "we get better as a society by sharing our stories with each other.”  

The star-studded benefit performance of Right Before I Go will take place in a virtual format on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. Tickets, available at quickcenter.com, are $40 for the general public and $20 for non-Fairfield University students. Tickets are FREE for Fairfield University students, faculty, and staff, and there will also be a live outdoor screening of the event for the campus community, next to the BCC.