Westport Country Playhouse to Host 2016 Season Kick-Off Block Party, 4/9

Westport Country Playhouse will host a "2016 Season Kick-off Block Party," on Saturday, April 9, 4 to 7 p.m., offering a fun, party-like atmosphere with food trucks, activities, prizes, special ticket offers, and a look at the Playhouse's "backstage experience." Admission is free and open to the public.

"Come party with the Playhouse," said Elizabeth Marks Juviler, Playhouse director of community engagement and special events. "To celebrate the start of our 2016 Season, we're throwing open the doors to the theater and offering lots of fun things to do, including self-guided tours.

"In keeping with the 'Art Is Everywhere' theme of our season opening productions of 'Art' and 'Red' in repertory, participants can win fun prizes by finding local art pieces in everyday places during our #ArtIsEverywhere scavenger hunt! Also, there will be a George Seurat community art project in the Lucille Lortel White Barn Center on the Playhouse campus," she added.

Local food trucks, including Bodega, The Bounty Truck, LobsterCRAFT, and Skinny Pines Pizza, will be on site with their specialties available for purchase. Shake Shack will offer complimentary custard. Music will be performed by Chenot. The event will take place rain or shine.

Box office promotions will include 25% off all single tickets, subscriptions, and flex passes to the 2016 season's five productions. The discounts will be available one-day-only, Saturday, April 9, 4 to 7 p.m., in-person purchases. Ticket discounts are not valid on previously purchased tickets and are subject to availability.

Westport Country Playhouse's 5-play 2016 season includes two Tony Award-winning plays staged in repertory (alternating daily), directed by Mark Lamos, from May 3 to 29: "Art" by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton; and "Red" by John Logan. Each of the plays is about art: making it, owning it, the anguish of creating it, and the ache of believing in it. The recent Off-Broadway comedy hit, "Buyer & Cellar" by Jonathan Tolins, is about a young, out-of-work actor who winds up working for a well-known star named Barbra in the mall she built in her Malibu mansion, playing June 14 - July 3. Another recent Off-Broadway piece, "The Invisible Hand," a riveting and relevant new thriller by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar, author of Broadway's "Disgraced," will run July 19 - August 6, directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director. When an American futures trader finds himself kidnapped and held hostage in Pakistan, he knows the only way to get home is to do what he does best: play the market like his life depends on it. Joe Orton's sexy comedy, "What the Butler Saw," offering a little blackmail, and a lot of innuendo, will play from August 23 - September 10, directed by John Tillinger, who helmed a recent, critically acclaimed production in Los Angeles. Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot," a freshly inventive take on one of the foremost musicals in the American canon, will run October 4 - 30, directed by Mark Lamos. The classic love triangle of King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and Sir Lancelot will be a reimagined version.

For more information, 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. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), or view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).

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