Westport Country Playhouse Presents Skippyjon Jones for Families 9/25

Westport Country Playhouse will present the enchanting musical, "Skippyjon Jones," on Sunday, September 25, at 1 and 4 p.m. Appropriate for grades K - 3, the production is based on the book by Judy Schachner and produced by Theatreworks USA. The performance in Westport will be the first stop on a national tour. Tickets are $15.

Following the theme of unleashing your imagination and following your dreams, Skippyjon Jones is about a little kitten with big ears and even bigger dreams. Sometimes he pretends to be a bird, sometimes he pretends to be a llama, and sometimes he pretends to be a whale...anything BUT a Siamese cat!

His Mama sends him to his room so that he can think about behaving like the cat he really is. While bouncing on his big boy bed, Skippyjon's wild imagination takes over again as he catches his reflection in a mirror. "Holy guacamole," Skippyjon exclaims. "My ears are too big for my head, my head is too big for my body. I am not a Siamese cat - I am a CHIHUAHUA!" And not just any Chihuahua. He dons a mask, a cape and an accent, and transforms into Skippito Friskito, the greatest canine sword fighter in old Mexico. But when the local pack of chihuahuas is terrorized by the gigantic bee, Alfredo Buzzito El Blimpo Bublebeeto Bandito, will Skippyjon be a ‘fraidy-cat or the top dog?

Theatreworks USA is America's largest and most prolific professional, not-for-profit theater for young and family audiences. Since 1961, Theatreworks USA has enlightened, entertained and instructed over 78 million people in 49 states and Canada.

As part of the Playhouse's 80th Anniversary Celebration, a limited number of $40 tickets will include a special reception with the cast - and refreshments for the whole family - after the 1 p.m. show. To purchase an 80th Anniversary ticket, contact Meghan Moorlach at mmoorlach@westportplayhouse.org or call 203-227-5137, x 138.

Corporate production sponsor is First Niagara/Pierson & Smith. Board of Trustees production sponsors are Meredith and David Bukzin.

Upcoming Family Festivities programs include "GrooveLily in Striking 12," on Sunday, December 4, 1 and 4 p.m. The concert-with-a-story, band-is-the-actors GrooveLily secular holiday show put the band on the map of the musical theater world. The show is co-written by GrooveLily and Rachel Sheinkin, who was a Tony Award winner for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." "A Season of Miracles," by Pushcart Players, will be presented on Sunday, December 11, 1 and 4 p.m. A sparkling collection of holiday tales from different cultures including Christmas ("The Gift of the Magi" and "The Nutcracker"), Kwanzaa ("The Kwanzaa Kite," set in Nigeria), and Chanukah ("A Chanukah Miracle," a Chelm story), the show is set to music and filled with beauty and magic, laughter and love - the perfect gift of theater to celebrate the winter holidays!

Birthday party facilities may be scheduled in advance. Everyone in the audience requires a ticket.
For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse) or get an insider's peek on The Playhouse Blog (www.theplayhouseblog.org).

About the Playhouse

Reimagining itself in recent years, Westport Country Playhouse is rapidly emerging as a nationally recognized professional theater. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos and management direction of Michael Ross, the Playhouse creates five live theater experiences, produced at the highest level, from April through November. Its vital mix of works---dramatic, comedic, occasionally exploratory and unusual---expands the audience's sense of what theater can be. The depth and scope of its productions display the foremost theatrical literature from the past---recent as well as distant---in addition to musicals and premieres of new plays. During the summer, the Playhouse is home to the Woodward Internship Program, renowned for the training of aspiring theater professionals. Winter at the Playhouse, from November through March, offers events outside of the main season---Family Festivities presentations, Script in Hand play readings and a Holiday Festival. In addition, businesses and organizations are encouraged to rent the handsome facility for their meetings, receptions and fundraisers.

As an historic venue, Westport Country Playhouse has had many different lives leading up to the present. Originally built in 1835 as a tannery manufacturing hatters' leathers, it became a steam-powered cider mill in 1880, later to be abandoned in the 1920s. Splendidly transformed into a theater in 1931, it initially served as a try-out house for Broadway transfers, evolving into an established stop on the New England straw hat circuit of summer stock theaters through the end of the 20th century.

Today, the not-for-profit Westport Country Playhouse serves as a cultural nexus for patrons, artists and students and is a treasured resource for the State of Connecticut. There are no boundaries to the creative thinking for future seasons or the kinds of audiences and excitement for theater that Westport Country Playhouse can build.
Westport Country Playhouse's five-play 2011 season: "Beyond Therapy," a wicked, and wickedly funny, look at the days and nights of the young and single, written by comic master Christopher Durang and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, April 26 - May 14; "The Circle," the scintillating comedy of manners, written by W. Somerset Maugham and directed by Nicholas Martin, June 7 - June 25; "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," a perceptive comedy about people struggling against their limitations, written by Terrence McNally and directed by Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, July 12 - July 30; "Suddenly Last Summer," the poetic, sensual and evocative drama, written by Tennessee Williams and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, August 23 - September 10; and "Twelfth Night, or What You Will," the beguiling comedy/romance, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Mark Lamos, October 11 - November 5.

For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse) or get an insider's peek on The Playhouse Blog (www.theplayhouseblog.org).

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