Westport Country Playhouse to Hold Sunday Symposium with John Tillinger and Geneva Carr for THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE, 8/24

Westport Country Playhouse will present a Sunday Symposium on Playwright Alan Ayckbourn, following the Sunday, August 24, 3 p.m. matinee performance of Ayckbourn's romantic comedy, "Things We Do for Love," with guests Tony Award nominee John Tillinger, director, and Geneva Carr, cast member.

Tillinger has helmed previous Ayckbourn comedies at the Playhouse including "How the Other Half Loves" and "Relatively Speaking." On Broadway, he directed Ayckbourn's "Absurd Person Singular," among many other productions.

Carr has appeared in four Ayckbourn plays at Westport Country Playhouse, "Relatively Speaking," "Time of My Life," "How the Other Half Loves," and a Script in Hand playreading of "Bedroom Farce." In New York, she was most recently in "Hand to God."

The symposium will be moderated by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director. 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. It is open to all, including those who attend a performance of "Things We Do for Love" at another time. The Sunday Symposium Series is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

In "Things We Do for Love," Carr plays fastidious Barbara, whose orderly, but solitary world is thrown into chaos when the arrival of her longtime friend Nikki and her fiancé ignites unexpected and violent passions. Replete with trademark Ayckbourn touches, this wickedly funny play will have the audience questioning just how sane anyone really is when it comes to love. Mature content; appropriate for age 16 and up.

Single tickets start at $30; buy early for best prices. Educators and students are eligible for 50% discounts. On the day of a performance, senior rush tickets are available at 50%. Flex Passes are also available, offering restaurant discounts and other subscriber-only benefits.

Playing from August 19 through September 7, "Things We Do for Love" performance schedule is Tuesday at 8 p.m., Wednesday at 2 and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Special series feature Taste of Tuesday, Previews, LGBT Night OUT, Opening Night, Sunday Symposium, Open Captions, Thursday TalkBack, Together at the Table Family Dinner, Playhouse Young Professionals, and Backstage Pass.

"Things We Do for Love" Corporate Production Sponsor is Fidelity Investments; Production Partners are Carol and Peter Seldin.

For more information, 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, or by using the new Playhouse App or mobile website. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), or view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).

Westport Country Playhouse, named Theater Company of the Year by The Wall Street Journal, is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit, professional theater under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos and management leadership of Michael Ross. The Playhouse creates five live theater experiences, produced at the highest level, from April through October. 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 and Script in Hand play readings. 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. Following a multi-million dollar renovation completed in 2005, the Playhouse became a state-of-the-art producing theater, preserving its original charm and character.

Today, the not-for-profit Westport Country Playhouse serves as a cultural resource for patrons, artists and students and is a treasure 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 2014 season: Noël Coward's "A Song at Twilight," an exquisite battle of wits, exploring the nature of passion, the cruelty of love, and the price of hidden secrets, directed by Mark Lamos, April 29 - May 17, a co-production with Hartford Stage; "Sing for Your Shakespeare," a world premiere musical revue with selections from Broadway, pop, rock, jazz, opera, film, and Tin Pan Alley, exploring how the American Songbook has been inspired by Shakespeare's works, directed by Mark Lamos, co-conceived by Wayne Barker, Mark Lamos, and Deborah Grace Winer, playing June 3 - 28; "Nora," Ingmar Bergman's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House," a story of love, blackmail, and the little lies people tell, translated into the English language by Frederick J. Marker and Lise-Lone Marker, directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, July 15 - August 2; "Things We Do for Love," Alan Ayckbourn's wickedly funny play that questions just how sane anyone really is when it comes to love, directed by John Tillinger, August 19 - September 7; and "Intimate Apparel" by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and directed by Mary Robinson, an intricate tapestry of the joys, sorrows, tragedy, and triumph of a gifted but lonely African-American seamstress in early 20th century Manhattan who's negotiating the choice between a love that is accepted and one that is true, October 7 - November 1.

Pictured: Geneva Carr, cast member of Westport Country Playhouse's "Things We Do for Love"

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