Westport Country Playhouse Announces Clohessy, Doman, Nelis & More in THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON 8/25-9/12

Casting is announced for "That Championship Season" at Westport Country Playhouse, the first production to be directed by Mark Lamos since he was named artistic director in February 2009 at the historic theater in Westport, Connecticut. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award and New York Drama Critics Circle Award, "That Championship Season" by Jason Miller will run August 25 through September 12.

"This classic American play is charged with explosive humor and powerful situations," said Lamos. "Its savage clashes and brilliantly drawn characters are written with coruscating power. It provides stunning opportunities for five superb actors at the top of their form-- and we have them in Westport."

Cast members are Robert Clohessy, John Doman, Lou Liberatore, Tom Nelis and Skipp Sudduth. Clohessy was on Broadway in "Pal Joey" and "Twelve Angry Men." Doman played Deputy Police Commissioner William Rawls on the HBO series, "The Wire," from 2002 to 2008. Liberatore received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance in "Burn This" on Broadway. Nelis won an Obie Award for his portray of Marshall McLuhan in "The Medium." Sudduth appeared on Broadway in "South Pacific," "The Iceman Cometh" and "Twelfth Night," and was a series regular on television's "Third Watch."

Lamos noted that the play was written by an actor, Jason Miller, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance as the young priest in the film, "The Exorcist."

"Though it was only his second play, ‘That Championship Season' demonstrates its young author's sure-handed grasp of the way men talk to and at and about each other," stated Lamos. "And it displays as well ferocious insight into men's unique dynamics---especially men whose lives are in free-fall, men whose sense of the past constantly holds their present moment in scorn."

Lamos added, "In this sense the play takes its place in the rich vein of some of America's most powerful literature: the vein that deals with youthful promises broken, dreams unattained, hopes dashed. Hemingway was there, Fitzgerald, too. O'Neill certainly, as well as Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Lorraine Hansberry and August Wilson. Though it was his only hit, Jason Miller's prize-winning powerhouse punch of a drama rightly belongs among the reputations of those masters' works."

"That Championship Season" takes place at a reunion of a high school basketball coach, now retired, and four members of the team that he guided to the state championship 20 years earlier. As the evening progresses, secrets are revealed, loyalties tested and the foundation of their long-held dreams is found to be fraudulent. A play of savage humor and giant passions, "That Championship Season" probes the darker aspects of the American creed of success.

Mark Lamos is a director of plays, musicals and opera. Named Westport Country Playhouse artistic director earlier this year, his first official season of artistic programming will be for The Playhouse's 80th anniversary year in 2010. The New York Times called him "a poet of the theater," and his work receives a chapter in Samuel L. Leiter's The Great Stage Directors: 100 Distinguished Careers of the Theater, along with legendary directors of the twentieth century. Lamos spent 17 seasons as artistic director of Connecticut's Hartford Stage, for which he accepted the Tony Award in 1989. He made his Broadway directing debut with a transfer from Hartford Stage of "Our Country's Good," for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Director.

Jason Miller (1939 - 2001) won the Pulitzer Prize, the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics' Circle Award for his play "That Championship Season." He won an Emmy Award and the prestigious Christopher Award for his teleplay "Mary Thomas: A Mother's Courage," the story of basketball player Isaiah Thomas' mother. Miller, a Pennsylvania Gold Medal recipient, was the Artistic Director of the Scranton Public Theatre, its Pennsylvania Summer Theatre Festival and The Public Theatre of Pennsylvania. His full-length heritage play, "Nobody Hears a Broken Drum," was chosen as the millennium play for the State of Pennsylvania.

The production team includes David Gallo, scenic design (Drama Desk, American Theatre Wing, Lucille Lortel, Hewes Design, Outer Critics Circle, Ovation, FANY, NAACP, AUDELCO, Barrymore and Eddy awards and nominations); Cynthia Nordstrom, costume design (2007 THEA Award); Jeff Nellis, lighting design (New York Outer Critics Circle Award nomination); David Van Tieghem, sound design; B. H. Barry, fight director; Matthew Melchoirre, production stage manager; and Janet Foster, C.S.A., casting.

Single tickets range from $35 to $55; opening night tickets, including post-performance reception, are $65. 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.

About The Playhouse

Westport Country Playhouse, a not-for-profit theater, serves as a treasured home for the performing arts and is a cultural landmark for Connecticut. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos and management direction of Michael Ross, The Playhouse creates quality productions of new and classic plays that enlighten, enrich and engage a diverse community of theater lovers, artists and students. The Playhouse's rich history dates back to 1931, when New York theatre producer Lawrence Langner created a Broadway-quality stage within an 1830s tannery. The Playhouse quickly became an established stop on the New England "straw hat circuit" of summer stock theatres. Now celebrating its 79th season, Westport Country Playhouse has produced more than 700 plays, 36 of which later transferred to Broadway, most recently the world premiere of "Thurgood" and a revival of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" with Paul Newman, and in earlier years "Come Back, Little Sheba" with Shirley Booth, "The Trip to Bountiful" with Lillian Gish, and "Butterflies Are Free" with Keir Dullea and Blythe Danner. For its artistic excellence, The Playhouse received a 2005 Governor's Arts Award and a 2000 "Connecticut Treasure" recognition. It was also designated as an Official Project of Save America's Treasures by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is entered on the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places. Following a multi-million dollar renovation completed in 2005, The Playhouse transformed into a year-round, state-of-the-art producing theater, which has preserved its original charm and character. In addition to a full season of theatrical productions, The Playhouse serves as a community resource, presenting educational programming and workshops; a children's theater series; symposiums; music; films; and readings.

For more information or ticket purchases, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets may be purchased online at www.westportplayhouse.org.

Photo credit: Walter McBride

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