OLD LYME, CT.- EN PLEIN AIR—Impressions of Painting in Giverny & Old Lyme is a new play created especially for the Florence Griswold Museum by actor Christopher Eaves.EN PLEIN AIR premieres Wednesday, June 25 and continues through Saturday, June 28. There are only eight performances, Wednesday through Saturday at 2pm and Saturday at 7pm for $20 per person and dinner and a show Wednesday through Friday at 5:30pm for $40 per person. For these performances, the audience will enjoy a boardinghouse-style summer supper overlooking the Lieutenant River prior to viewing EN PLEIN AIR. The setting is intimate and seating is limited. Reservations are required in advance at 860-434-5542 x111 or www.FlorenceGriswoldMuseum.org

Conceived and performed by Christopher Eaves, performances of EN PLEIN AIR coincide with the Museum's exhibition Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France. Filled with color, movement and sound, EN PLEIN AIR is an immersive theatrical experience that transports audiences through the picturesque landscapes of Giverny, France and Old Lyme, Connecticut using wall-size projections of famous Impressionist paintings. The production in supported, in part, by a grant from the Connecticut Humanities Council.

Eaves is the award-winning artistic director of eavesdrop®, the New York City performance and arts education collaborative. He is recognized for his stylish and thought-provoking performances that combine bold imagery and movement.

The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut, is the first venue for the exhibition, Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France, 1885-1915. Selections from the Terra Foundation for American Art. Organized by the Musée d’Art Américain Giverny and on view through July 27, 2008, this exhibition of over 50 oil paintings features Impressionist masterworks by American expatriate artists who worked in this small French village. Attracted by the presence of the Impressionist master Claude Monet, who settled in Giverny in 1883, an international community of artists flocked there from the late 1880s through World War I. The Florence Griswold Museum is especially suited to present this international exhibition. The idyllic towns of Giverny, France and Old Lyme, Connecticut share a similar history. Both were creative meccas for artists at the turn of the last century. They traveled to the villages from the nearby cities of Paris and New York in search of plein air painting opportunities and social life among fellow artists. In each town, many of the artists stayed for long periods, formed lifelong friendships and immortalized the surrounding landscapes with their paintings.

Also held in conjunction with the Museum’s exhibition and the play, EN PLEIN AIR, the Museum will host a three-day Teachers’ Institute, From On-Line to Onstage: Infusing the Classroom with Creativity, Drama, and Improvisation, June 30 through July 2. Beginning with an encore performance of EN PLEIN AIR, Eaves and Museum Director of Education and Outreach David Rau will familiarize teachers with the array of learning opportunities, teaching resources, and state curriculum connections available through the Florence Griswold Museum. Utilizing the newly reinterpreted historic Griswold House (a boardinghouse for the Lyme Art Colony, circa 1910), and the Museum’s current exhibition Impressionist Giverny: American Painters in France, the Institute will demonstrate how creativity, drama, and improvisation techniques can be effectively used in the classroom. The fee for the Institute is $75 and teachers earn 1.3 CEUs.