Marsha Mason and Paxton Whitehead Lead WCP's THE CIRCLE June 7-25

Golden Globe Award winner and Academy Award nominee Marsha Mason and Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award nominee Paxton Whitehead will head the cast of Westport Country Playhouse's scintillating comedy of manners, "The Circle," written by W. Somerset Maugham and directed by Nicholas Martin, playing June 7 - 25. "The Circle," the second production in The Playhouse's 80th birthday year, is considered Maugham's wittiest play, a seamless blend of romance and repartee.

Ms. Mason will play Lady Catherine Champion-Cheney. She appeared at Westport Country Playhouse in a reading of Michael Cristofer's "The Whore and Mr. Moore" in 2008. Whitehead, who has appeared at The Playhouse in many comedies, including "How the Other Half Loves," "Time of My Life" and "Relatively Speaking," will play Lord Champion-Cheney.

Many years ago, Lord Champion-Cheney was abandoned by his wife, Lady Catherine, who ran off to Italy with her lover. Bringing matters full circle, his stuffy son Arnold is now involved in a love triangle of his own as his bored wife is smitten with a handsome house guest. "The Circle" explores how history often is destined to repeat itself.

In addition to Ms. Mason (films "The Goodbye Girl" and "Cinderella Liberty") and Whitehead (Broadway's "The Importance of Being Earnest," "My Fair Lady" and "Noises Off"), the cast includes Gretchen Hall (Shakespeare on the Sound's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Comedy of Errors") as Elizabeth; John Horton (Broadway's "A Touch of the Poet," "Noises Off," "Kiss Me Kate," "Amadeus") as Lord Porteous; James J. O'Neil (Broadway's "Present Laughter") as Butler; Bryce Pinkham ("Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson") as Edward Luton; Christina Rouner (Broadway's "Coram Boy") as Mrs. Shenstone; and Marc Vietor ("Present Laughter," "Grey Gardens") as Arnold Champion-Cheney.

"'The Circle' is an illuminating and stylish comedy about the choices people make, their consequences and the generational aspect of those choices," said Mark Lamos, Westport Country Playhouse artistic director. "The audience is kept on tenterhooks wondering how the characters will choose to live the rest of their lives."

Director Nicholas Martin previously directed Westport Country Playhouse's "The Substance of Fire" and "A Cheever Evening." On Broadway, he directed "Present Laughter," "Butley," "Match," "Hedda Gabler," "The Rehearsal" and "You Never Can Tell. He is the former artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival and Boston's Huntington Theatre Company.

Playwright W. Somerset Maugham was one of the most prolific and varied writers of the twentieth century. Among his many works, some of which were made into films, are "Of Human Bondage," "The Moon and Sixpence," "The Painted Veil," "The Razor's Edge" and "The Constant Wife."

The design and production team includes Alexander Dodge (Westport Country Playhouse's "The Archbishop's Ceiling," Broadway's "Present Laughter," for which he received a 2010 Tony Award nomination), scenic design; Gabriel Berry (premieres by Charles Ludlam, Mabou Mines, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, John Guare), costume design; Philip Rosenberg (Westport Country Playhouse's "I Do! I Do!"), lighting design; Drew Levy (Broadway's "The Importance of Being Earnest," "Present Laughter"), sound design; Louis Colaianni, dialect coach; Jason Kaiser, production stage manager; Kevin Robert Fitzpatrick, assistant stage manager; and Janet Foster, C.S.A., casting.
2011 season sponsor is KPMG; 2011 media sponsors are Moffly Media and WSHU Public Radio Group. Board of trustees production sponsor is Helen Lee Henderson. Board of trustees production partners are Judy M. Witt and Scott Phares. Corporate production partner is Bank of America.

Westport Country Playhouse's five-play 2011 season continues with "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," a perceptive comedy about people struggling against their limitations, written by Terrence McNally and directed by Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, July 12 - July 30; "Suddenly Last Summer," the poetic, sensual and evocative drama, written by Tennessee Williams and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, August 23 - September 10; and "Twelfth Night, or What You Will," the beguiling comedy/romance, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Mark Lamos, October 11 - November 5.

Subscriptions to all four plays are available for preferred seating and discounts up to 45% off single ticket pricing. Students and educators are eligible for 50% discounts. All Friday evening performances are $25 for patrons aged 35 and under. Groups of 10 or more save up to 30%. For group sales information call (203) 227-5137, x120.

For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to The Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse) or get an insider's peek on The Playhouse Blog (www.theplayhouseblog.org).

About The Playhouse

Reimagining itself in recent years, Westport Country Playhouse is rapidly emerging as a nationally recognized professional theater. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos and management direction of Michael Ross, The Playhouse creates five live theater experiences, produced at the highest level, from April through November. Its vital mix of works---dramatic, comedic, occasionally exploratory and unusual---expands the audience's sense of what theater can be. Its productions' depth and scope display the foremost theatrical literature from the past---recent as well as distant---in addition to musicals and premieres of new plays. During the summer, The Playhouse is home to the Woodward Internship Program, renowned for the training of aspiring theater professionals. Winter at The Playhouse, from November through March, offers events outside of the main season---Family Festivities presentations, Script in Hand play readings and a Holiday Festival. In addition, businesses and organizations are encouraged to rent the handsome facility for their meetings, receptions and fundraisers.

As an historic venue, Westport Country Playhouse has had many different lives leading up to the present. Originally built in 1835 as a tannery manufacturing hatters' leathers, it became a steam-powered cider mill in 1880, later to be abandoned in the 1920s. Splendidly transformed into a theater in 1931, it initially served as a try-out house for Broadway transfers, evolving into an established stop on the New England straw hat circuit of summer stock theaters through the end of the 20th century.

Today, the not-for-profit Westport Country Playhouse serves as a cultural nexus for patrons, artists and students and is a treasured resource for the State of Connecticut. There are no boundaries to the creative thinking for future seasons or the kinds of audiences and excitement for theater that Westport Country Playhouse can build.
Westport Country Playhouse's five-play 2011 season: "Beyond Therapy," a wicked, and wickedly funny, look at the days and nights of the young and single, written by comic master Christopher Durang and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, April 26 - May 14; "The Circle," the scintillating comedy of manners, written by W. Somerset Maugham and directed by Nicholas Martin, June 7 - June 25; "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," a perceptive comedy about people struggling against their limitations, written by Terrence McNally and directed by Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, July 12 - July 30; "Suddenly Last Summer," the poetic, sensual and evocative drama, written by Tennessee Williams and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, August 23 - September 10; and "Twelfth Night, or What You Will," the beguiling comedy/romance, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Mark Lamos, October 11 - November 5.

For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to The Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse) or get an insider's peek on The Playhouse Blog (www.theplayhouseblog.org).

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