WCP Hosts Symposium with Playwright Christopher Durang May 1

Playwright Christopher Durang will discuss his many comedic works for the American stage at a symposium following the Sunday, May 1, 3 p.m. matinee performance of his comedy, "Beyond Therapy," at Westport Country Playhouse. The symposium will be moderated by Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director.

The Playhouse Sunday Symposium program, free and open to the public, provides the audience with guest speakers' in-depth insights and observations about the production, followed by an interactive dialogue. It is open to all, including those who attend a performance of "Beyond Therapy" at another time.

"I'm so excited to be able to engage one of America's finest playwrights in a conversation with our audience," said Lamos. "Chris's provocative ideas and completely unique insights into the world, through his plays as well as his opinion pieces on The Huffington Post and other venues-- as well as his background as a teacher of playwrighting at the Juilliard School should prove fascinating, funny, and trenchant."

Playwright Christopher Durang has had plays on and off-Broadway including "A History of the American Film" (Tony Award nomination), "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You" (Obie Award), "Beyond Therapy," "Baby with the Bathwater," "The Marriage of Bette and Boo" (Obie Award, Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award), "Laughing Wild," "Betty's Summer Vacation" (Obie Award), "Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge," "Miss Witherspoon" (2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist) and "Adrift in Macao" (book/lyrics Durang, music by Peter Melnick). His latest play "Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love" premiered at The Public Theater in 2009. In recent years, Durang won the Harvard Arts Medal, the Sidney Kingsley Playwriting Award and was the 2008 honoree at the William Inge Festival. Durang has acted in movies ("The Butcher's Wife," "Housesitter," "Mr. North," "The Secret of My Success") and in his own plays. With Marsha Norman, he's been co-chair of the Playwriting Program at Juilliard School since 1994. He's a member of the Dramatists Guild Council. www.christopherdurang.com

The wickedly funny comedy, "Beyond Therapy," looks at the days and nights of the young and single. After a disastrous first date, Bruce and Prudence solace in therapy---despite both their therapists being stark raving mad. And that's only the beginning of their problems. In Durang's topsy-turvy world, life is a potent cocktail of sexual mix-ups, relationship neuroses, and a serious lack of impulse control. The play contains adult content and language.

The Sunday Symposium is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
2011 season sponsor is KPMG; 2011 media sponsors are Moffly Media and WSHU Public Radio Group. Board of trustees production sponsors are Jill and Alex Dimitrief.

Westport Country Playhouse's five-play 2011 season continues with "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.

Subscriptions to all five plays are available for preferred seating and discounts up to 45% off single ticket pricing. Students and educators are eligible for 50% discounts. 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.playhouseblog.org).

About The Playhouse

Reimagining itself in recent years, Westport Country Playhouse is rapidly stepping into the spotlight as a nationally recognized 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.playhouseblog.org).