Five Community Gatherings to Honor Paul Newman Are Sold Out at Westport Country Playhouse

Tickets for Westport Country Playhouse's (JoAnne Woodward and Anne Keefe, artistic directors, Jodi Schoenbrun Carter, managing director) five presentations of "Our Town," community gatherings to celebrate the life of Paul Newman, were sold out in a matter of hours yesterday (Monday, November 3).

In less than five hours, beginning at 10 a.m., Westport Country Playhouse processed some 2700 ticket orders for five community gatherings with refreshments followed by the film of Westport Country Playhouse's 2002 production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" with Mr. Newman as the Stage Manager.

Tickets were free by phone or in-person reservation.  Community gatherings are scheduled on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, November 19, 20 and 21, at 7 p.m., with the screening of "Our Town" at 8 p.m.; and Saturday, November 22, 1 p.m. and 6 p.m., with screenings at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively.  Originally scheduled on November 22 only, more dates were added yesterday due to extraordinary ticket demand.

A wait list will be available during each of the pre-film gatherings, one-hour prior to the screening time.  People must be present at The Playhouse to place their name on the wait list. At screening time, unclaimed tickets will be issued to those on the wait list, subject to availability.

Newman, husband of Westport Country Playhouse artistic director JoAnne Woodward, passed away on September 26, 2008.  He appeared in Westport Country Playhouse productions of "Love Letters" (2000), "Ancestral Voices" (2000 and 2002), "For the Children" (2001), "Trumbo" (2004), "Come Be My Love" (2007) and a revival of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" (2002), which transferred to Broadway and was filmed for Showtime and PBS.  He was a member of The Playhouse's advisory council to the board of trustees since 2000.

All seating for the film is by reservation.  All tickets will be available for pick-up one hour before the film.

Support for the event is provided by Northeast Tent Productions, PBS, Plaid, Preferred Printing, Showtime, Westport Minuteman and Westport News.

For more information, contact the Westport Country Playhouse Box Office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit The Playhouse at 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. www.westportplayhouse.org