Love Your Community As Naugatuck Patch Mayor Nancy Does

NAUGATUCK, CT — When it comes to love of one's community and a love of the arts, Naugatuck Patch Mayor Nancy Sasso Janis, a local educator with 36 years of experience, is at the top of the list. Janis has been a volunteer contributor to the Naugatuck Patch since 2010. She is currently the Naugatuck Patch Mayor.

Janis is one of the most well-known residents in the Borough as she attends several civic functions and receives numerous story ideas and submissions from countless people in the community. She takes great pride in showcasing the many people that make Naugatuck so special.

It all began with her love the of the theater.

“Writing for Patch.com started with a small community theater that opened in the borough of Naugatuck, CT. I attended the ribbon cutting at the Phoenix Stage Company and enjoyed a scene from their inaugural production of BLEACHER BUMS. Because the PSC offered discounted tickets to both students and teachers, I began to organize Dinner and a Show Nights with my colleagues as a way to support this new hometown theater."

Janis has been a singer for most of her life and made her stage debut in the musical SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK LIVE, Jr. at Maple Hill Elementary School in 2006. She played the lead role of a brand new teacher renamed Pearl Morton and worked with 60 third and fourth grade students, including her son Adam.

As she continued to enjoy the productions at Phoenix Stage Company, the budding actress decided that she wanted to do everything she could to ensure that the Phoenix Stage Company was a success. “I had always wanted to audition for a local production and I hoped that someday there would be a role in a PSC show that was right for me.”

At this same time, the online platform of Patch.com came across her radar. “I saw a post that Naugatuck Patch was looking for contributors and I decided to see if they would accept a theater critic. I had never written a review of the many performances I had attended in my life, but I decided to try my hand at it.”

An email to Naugatuck Patch editor Ronald DeRosa was all it took to post Janis’ first review of a comedy called DRINKING HABITS that is still available online. She then began to post previews of upcoming Phoenix Stage shows, which quickly expanded to shows at other local venues. It wasn’t long before she began to post pieces on local school happenings and charitable events.

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And that opportunity to audition at PSC came in 2012 when the theater launched the musical THE LAST SUPPER: A MUSICAL ENACTMENT. “I auditioned to be a pit singer, a person who sits with the musicians to backup the actors, but the director decided to offer me the role of Martha.”

Janis wrote a series of behind the scenes articles and then invited a community theater actress to serve as guest critic for the show.

Since then, Janis has steadily increased the number of theaters and schools that invite her to come to review their shows and she has become a respected theater reviewer. Her current list of theaters stands at 103 professional and community theaters, K-12 schools and universities in CT and beyond.

She also became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle, an organization that reviews Equity productions, and she currently serves on the CCC’s governing board. As a result, she has been able to become one of the biggest online supporters of CT theater.

In 2018, Janis posted reviews of 129 shows, which included Equity productions, community theater musicals and plays, touring companies and productions by young performers. She compiles a year-end top ten list for each of these categories.

“I am always honored when a school invites me to attend a final dress rehearsal or a performance because that is where I get to see up and coming talent. Phoenix Stage has moved to Oakville, CT, so the commute is now just a bit longer.”

Janis now appears on local radio stations; she recently appeared as Harriet Beecher Stowe and herself on the old-time radio program 'Nutmeg Junction' on WAPJ in Torrington and other stations.

She is also often invited to cover Naugatuck charity events and local celebrations. “I have met so many Naugatuck neighbors and I am always humbled when community theater actors want to meet me.”

“I can’t believe that I have been contributing to Patch sites for almost nine years. The Patch editors and my title may have changed throughout the years, and the platform itself has gone through many changes. It has been relatively easy to keep up and I often give feedback to improve the technical aspects. I also serve as webmaster of the site for my current school and the website for the local teachers’ union, where I often cross post appropriate Patch articles.”

Janis continues: “I appreciate the expanded rights that Patch Mayors have been granted, especially the ability to post to their home Patch Facebook site. I am pleased that posts I make to other local Patch sites make it into the Twitter feed, and that some of my Naugatuck posts make it into the daily newsletter.”

Janis has been added to the press release list of an ever-increasing number of universities, theaters, churches and K-12 schools and she continues to post information about the Naugatuck High School Marching Band, Color Guard and Chamber Singers. Now that her own sons are grown, she keeps tabs on these groups by the posts of parents who are Facebook friends.

Nancy Sasso Janis has been a kindergarten and first grade teacher for 36 years. She grew up in Stratford and has lived in Naugatuck since the early eighties. She is the mother of three sons. Nicholas is 34, Adam is a 2014 graduate of Kaynor Tech and Christian is a 2016 graduate of the Waterbury Arts Magnet School (WAMS) attending Western CT State University.

Janis has a strong presence on social media. Check out her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and Connecticut Theater Previews, on Twitter @nancysjanis417 She also manages the new CT Critics Circle Facebook page. On instagram.com/nancysjanis/