www.southingtoncitizen.com
Volume 19, Number 10
Friday, March 11, 2022
Theater production set to make history
‘THE PEOPLE’S CONVOY’
Citizen report
PLAINVILLE – Plainville High School’s Theater Unlimited will present "A Word For Mother" March 18 and 19 at PHS’s black box theater. This will be the first time Tim McArthur’s play is performed on stage, and the playwright reached out to the Plainville High theater group recently to talk shop.
A crowd gathered along I-84 in Southington on Wednesday, March 2 in support of truckers headed to Washington to protest government mandates. Police closed a portion of Jude Lane to most traffic during the peaceful demonstration. School buses and local traffic were allowed through without incident. Photo by Eric Cotton, Record-Journal
Taking part in the virtual meeting were Theater Unlimited actresses Hailey Calder, Lily Feyerabend, Zeyana Thigpen, Janessa Freitas, Marissa Freitas and Sofia Maksymiw, along with assistant director Nikolas Diaz and advisor/faculty member TJ Riccardo. McArthur and student cast members disSee Theater, A2
Viral video increases social media presence for SPD By Faith Williams Record-Journal staff
Hammel served as back up dancers.
media platforms gained 1,000 new followers.
SOUTHINGTON — A viral video featuring local officers lip-syncing a Celine Dion song and dancing in the rain has drastically increased the department’s social media presence.
“We did not expect what happened,” Lt. Steven Cifone said. “We were thinking maybe to get a few thousand views and as of now I think we are up to 325,000.”
“It’s accomplished the goal. Obviously people want to know when’s the next video but the goal is to have continuous content,” Cifone said. “So that when we need real time information or put out any type of emergency broadcast we reach a larger audience.”
Officers captured the attention of local residents, people across the state and beyond with a March 2 video featuring Officer Evan Olsson lip-syncing “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now.” Officers Neal Ayotte, Joe Richard and Sgt. Matthew
In the video, the officers are lip-syncing and dancing in the rain with police cruisers in the background. Last Friday the Facebook post showed 334,000 views, 6,000 reactions, 1,000 comments and over 3,000 shares. Cifone said since the video was posted, the department’s social
Karissa Vaillancourt commented on the post saying, “This is amazing! Thanks guys. Also good to see familiar smiling faces having fun on the job.” Although the video was fun, See Viral video, A2
The video featuring four Southington police officers was designed to increase the Southington Police Department’s social media presence.