SORRY FOR LAUGHING Solo Play Will Come to Westport Country Playhouse
Evan Zes writes and performs the sold-out Barnstormer reading at the Lucille Lortel White Barn Center
Westport Country Playhouse will present the first public reading of “Sorry for Laughing,” a new work written and performed by Evan Zes, about a wayward son who moves home to care for his mother and discovers a chaos he never knew he needed, on Monday, May 11, at 7 p.m. The reading is part of the Barnstormer series in the Lucille Lortel White Barn Center, next to the Playhouse. The show is sold out.
“We're proud to welcome Evan Zes back to the Playhouse for the first public presentation of 'Sorry for Laughing,'” said Mark Shanahan, Westport Country Playhouse artistic director. “Evan is a beloved audience favorite and a formidable talent whose work has been seen on Broadway and stages across the country. In this new solo play, he brings his signature blend of humor and honesty to a deeply personal story about caregiving, family, and resilience. We're honored he's chosen the Playhouse as the launch pad for a work that is as hilarious as it is moving, and one that will resonate deeply with anyone who has faced the challenges of caring for those they love.”
“Sorry for Laughing” centers on Evan Zes and his mother during Covid. When she is discharged from the hospital with a serious heart condition, Zes transforms his childhood home into a makeshift recovery ward, determined to keep her safe and out of an overwhelmed healthcare system. As the lines between son and caretaker blur, he finds himself navigating his 95-year-old father, mercurial family dynamics, and a household that no longer runs by any predictable logic. Simple routines become high-stakes negotiations, and control proves increasingly elusive.
Blending sharp humor with raw vulnerability, “Sorry for Laughing” explores the limits of caregiving, the complexity of family, and the strange, often funny ways we endure crisis. The Barnstormer reading is a dark comedy that is at once poignant, chaotic, and ultimately uplifting.
Zes has appeared at Westport Country Playhouse in “The 39 Steps,” “Around the World in 80 Days,” and Script in Hand playreadings of “Mrs. Christie,” “Breaking Legs,” and “Rent Control” as writer/performer; Broadway: “The Kite Runner”; Off-Broadway: “Incident at Vichy,” “Rent Control,” “Arms and the Man,” “Days to Come”; Television: “Only Murders in the Building”; Film: “The Street.”
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