Westport Country Playhouse Hosts A Conversation with A. R. Gurney 5/31

Westport Country Playhouse will present a Sunday Symposium, "A Conversation with A. R. Gurney," following the Sunday, May 31, 3 p.m. matinee performance of Gurney's vital and insightful family drama, "Children."

The Playhouse Sunday Symposium program, free and open to the public, provides the audience with guest speakers' in-depth insights and observations about the production, followed by an interactive dialogue. David Kennedy, Westport Country Playhouse associate artistic director, will moderate the Sunday Symposium. It is open to all, including those who attend a performance of "Children" at another time. The Sunday Symposium is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

"I'm so excited to have this conversation with Pete Gurney," said Kennedy. "How often do we get to ask questions of such a legendary writer? ‘Children' is such a complex and beautiful play, and Pete has such a history with The Playhouse, I know that there will be a lot of fascinating ground to cover."

A. R. ("Pete") Gurney has been writing plays for over 50 years. Among them are: "Scenes from American Life," "The Dining Room," "The Cocktail Hour," "Love Letters," "Sylvia," "Far East," "Mrs. Farnsworth," "Indian Blood," "Crazy Mary" and "Buffalo Gal." He has also written three novels, a few television scripts, several unproduced movies, and the librettos of two operas. Gurney is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has honorary degrees from Williams College and Buffalo State University, and taught literature at M.I.T. for many years. Westport Country Playhouse has staged 13 Gurney plays, two of which were world premieres.

Suggested by a John Cheever story, "Children" is directed by Tony Award nominee John Tillinger. The cast includes Mary Bacon (Tom Stoppard's "Rock ‘n' Roll" on Broadway; "Arcadia" at Lincoln Center), Katie Finneran (2002 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for "Noises Off"), Judith Light ("Who's the Boss?," two-time Emmy Award winner for "One Life to Live," 2007 Emmy Award nominee for "Ugly Betty," Helen Hayes and Eliot Norton awards for national tour of "Wit") and James Waterston (Westport Country Playhouse's "Relatively Speaking" and "Time of My Life"; A.R. Gurney's "Buffalo Gal" at Primary Stages).

"Children" takes place as a wealthy family gathers to celebrate the Fourth of July in their summer home on an island off the New England coast. With the return of an estranged and mysterious brother secrets are revealed, loyalties tested, and the shifting tides of generations challenge everyone's assumptions about their place in the family. Loosely based on John Cheever's short story "Goodbye, My Brother," "Children" probes the heart of one family to discover wider truths about the American social landscape.

The full schedule for "Children" will run from May 26 - June 13, with performances Tuesday at 8 p.m., Wednesday at 2 and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 4 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Special series will feature Previews, Opening Nights, TalkBack Thursdays, Symposium Sundays, Backstage Pass and Open Captioning.

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.

 

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