Westport Country Playhouse Announces 2011 Season

Celebrating 80 Years with a Variety of Outstanding Plays and Playwrights: Westport Country Playhouse Announces 2011 Season

Works by five renowned playwrights - Christopher Durang, W. Somerset Maugham, Terrence McNally, Tennessee Williams and William Shakespeare - will comprise Westport Country Playhouse's 2011 season, announced Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, who will direct two of the five productions. 2011 will mark the historic theater's 80th anniversary; it first opened its doors in June 1931. Four and five play subscriptions are now on sale - starting at $25 per ticket.

"We have a wonderful variety of plays written by some outstanding playwrights," said Lamos.
"Durang strikes me as an unparalleled chronicler of the absurdity of contemporary American life; his characters, obsessives all, prove bitingly, outrageously funny as they scramble through lives searching for relationships and meaning. Maugham remains among the wisest and wittiest writers of English drawing-room comedy. Tennessee Williams, the greatest poet of the American theater, wrote haunting and beautiful works that continue to electrify audiences with their explorations of the erotic and the illusory."

Commenting on McNally and Shakespeare, the playwrights whose works he will direct in 2011, Lamos stated, "Terrence McNally's great comedy is shot through with wry, insightful, yet tender humanity in his exploration of life in an age of anxiety. And Shakespeare, whose works have enriched my life, both as actor, audience member, and director for as long as I can remember, is going make a comeback at the Playhouse in a production of one of his supreme comic masterpieces. His unparalleled mixture of wise humanism and hilarious comedy continues to move audiences and make them laugh."

A wicked, and wickedly funny, look at the days and nights of the young and single, "Beyond Therapy," written by comic master Christopher Durang and directed by Tony Award winner John Rando, will play April 26 - May 14, 2011. After a disastrous first date, Bruce and Prudence seek solace in therapy-despite both their therapists being stark raving mad. And that's only the beginning of their problems. In Durang's topsy-turvy world, life is a ceaseless parade of sexual mix-ups, relationship neurosis and a serious lack of impulse control.

The scintillating comedy of manners, "The Circle" by W. Somerset Maugham, will run June 7 - June 25, 2011. A director will be announced soon. Many years ago, Lord Champion-Cheney was abandoned by his wife, a legendary beauty. Now his son Arnold, a politician and rising star, is having marital problems of his own. Is history destined to repeat itself? Considered by many as Maugham's wittiest play, "The Circle" is a seamless blend of romance and repartee.

A perceptive comedy about people struggling against their limitations, "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," written by Terrence McNally and directed by Mark Lamos, will play July 12 - July 30, 2011. From the author of "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" and "Master Class" comes a story of two couples who gather at a Fire Island beach house to celebrate the Fourth of July. Anxious about their impending middle age, and wary of the world's hidden threats, they fortify themselves against life's disappointments with food, drink, and an escalating series of wry observations and stinging barbs.

The poetic, sensual and evocative drama, "Suddenly Last Summer," written by Tennessee Williams and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, will be staged August 23 - September 10, 2011. A handsome poet has died under mysterious circumstances, and only the beautiful young woman who was there knows the shocking and terrible truth of what happened. Will she tell her story no matter the consequences, or succumb to the pressure to protect the legacy of an influential and powerful family?

The beguiling comedy/romance "Twelfth Night, or What You Will," written by William Shakespeare and directed by Mark Lamos, will run October 11 - October 29, 2011. A young lady cast ashore after a violent shipwreck finds herself thrust into an adventure of cross-dressing, sexual confusion, mistaken identity and the flowering of romantic love. A story of passionate intensity, full of laughter, poetry and song, this is Shakespeare's most enjoyable comic masterpiece. "If music be the food of love, play on!"

"Since ‘Twelfth Night' is in many ways a play about the act of celebration, I can't think of a more buoyant and beautiful way to celebrate our 80th anniversary than this comedy of love and wisdom and song," noted Lamos.

Subscriptions to all five plays are now available for preferred seating and pricing, among other benefits. Subscription prices range from $125 to $250 for a five-play package; $100 to $220 for a four-play package. Single tickets will be on sale Tuesday, March 1, noon. 50% discounts are available for students and educators; 30% discounts for groups of 10 or more. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse) and/or follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse).
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 theater 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 theaters. Celebrating its 80th season in 2010, 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.

Currently underway, Westport Country Playhouse's five-play 2010 season began in April 2010 and continues through October 30, 2010 with "I Do! I Do," an endearing musical, with book and lyrics are by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, directed by Susan H. Schulman, August 10 through August 28, 2010; and "The Diary of Anne Frank," a timeless and powerful classic, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, adapted by Wendy Kesselman, directed by Gerald Freedman, September 28 through October 30, 2010.

For more information or ticket purchases, call the box office (Tues. - Sat., 12 to 6 p.m.) 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. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse) and/or follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse).

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