Peter Shaffer Expert to Speak at LETTICE AND LOVAGE Sunday Symposium at WCP

Alan Pally, an authority on Tony and Academy Award-winning British playwright Peter Shaffer ("Amadeus," "Equus"), will be guest speaker at the Playhouse's Sunday Symposium following the Sunday, June 4, 3 p.m. matinee performance of Shaffer's comedy "Lettice and Lovage."

Pally will engage in a conversation about the playwright with David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director. The Playhouse Sunday Symposium program is free and open to the public.

Alan Pally had a long career as producer of the performance and lecture series at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, where he produced thousands of performances, lectures, panels, master classes, and festivals in the fields of theater, music, dance, and film. In addition to four programs on which he worked with Peter Shaffer, Pally worked with Edward Albee, Robert Anderson, Alan Bennett, Michael Frayn, Simon Gray, John Guare, Paula Vogel, and many other playwrights. He has produced programs related to the work of Sean O'Casey (with Barnard Hughes and Julie Harris), John Osborne (with Natasha Richardson and Michael Sheen), William Shakespeare (with Stratford Ontario Festival actors), and Tennessee Williams (with Cherry Jones, Kim Hunter, Eli Wallach, and Anne Jackson). Pally also produced major series focusing on the work of Noël Coward, George Bernard Shaw, and Oscar Wilde.

Pally's free-lance assignments included work for Mrs. Patricia Kennedy Lawford and her National Committee for the Literary Arts, and the Shakespeare Society, for which he produced the New York Memorial Tribute to Sir John Gielgud, working with Hume Cronyn, Ralph Fiennes, and others. Pally currently serves as a Trustee of the Noël Coward Foundation and on the Board of Directors of HB Studio and the HB Playwrights Foundation.

Peter Shaffer's Tony Award-nominated comedy "Lettice and Lovage" is about Miss Lettice Douffet, a tour guide for one of Britain's stately homes, who creates outrageous, exaggerated stories to make the stuffy house's historic past more fascinating. Playing May 30 through June 17, Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, helms the production. The cast includes Patricia Conolly, Mia Dillon, Sarah Manton, and Paxton Whitehead.

The Sunday Symposium Series is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

"Lettice and Lovage" Production Sponsor is Howard J. Aibel. Production Partner is Joyce Hergenhan. Corporate Production Sponsor is Bank of America.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.westportplayhouse.org or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, 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), and on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).

The mission of Westport Country Playhouse is to enrich, enlighten, and engage the community through the power of professionally produced theater worth talking about and the welcoming experience of the Playhouse campus. The Playhouse creates this relationship with the community and provides this experience in multiple ways by offering: Live theater experiences of the highest quality, under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos, from May through November; educational and community engagement events and opportunities to further explore issues presented by the work on stage; special performances and programs for students and teachers with extensive curriculum support material; Script in Hand play readings throughout the year to deepen relationships with audiences and artists alike; the renowned Woodward Internship Program training program during the summer months for aspiring theater professionals; Family Festivities presentations from December through April to delight young and old alike and to promote reading through live theater; and the beautiful and historic Playhouse campus open for enjoyment and community events year-round. The value of the Westport Country Playhouse to all it touches is immeasurable.