By special arrangement with the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation, four special weekend presentations will take place at the historic Lucille Lortel Theatre at 121 Christopher Street. Lortel was the actress and producer known for embracing edgy, new and foreign work in the mid-20th century, both Off-Broadway and at her White Barn in rustic Connecticut.
Produced by Vincent Curcio and artistic supervisor Donald Saddler, with artistic advisory board member Dr. Mary C. Henderson, the four productions will be announced soon.
Performances are now scheduled for (all subject to change) Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 & 8 PM and Sunday at 3 and 7 PM, except the last weekend with June 24 at 8 PM; June 25 at 6 & 9 PM and closing on June 26 with performances at 4 & 8 PM. The tickets will be on sale shortly. Telecharge will handle orders at (212) 239 6200 or www.telecharge.com. Visit www.whitebarntheatre.org.
In 2003, White Barn presented weekend cabaret shows featuring Patty Clark, Joan Morris and William Bolcom and others. The White Barn's status, officially, is that renovations are planned, but the board is reportedly exploring selling off the Westport land and/or razing the barn theatre in order to continue its not-for-profit theatre initiatives.
* Lucille Lortel (founder and artistic director, 1947-1999) founded the White Barn Theatre in Westport, Connecticut, in 1947 for the purpose of presenting works of an unusual and experimental nature. Her mission was to develop the talents of new playwrights, composers, actors, directors and designers, and to allow established artists to open themselves up to new directions in their careers by performing in pieces they might not have been able to do in commercial theatre. Lortel also owned the Lucille Lortel Theatre (formerly the Theatre de Lys) in New York.
In 1981, the Museum of the City of New York honored Lortel with an exhibition proclaiming her The Queen of Off-Broadway, a title first given to her in 1962 by Richard Coe of The Washington Post. Among the many honors, awards and distinctions bestowed upon her in more than a half century as a producer were the first Margo Jones Award (1962), the first Lee Strasberg Lifetime Achievement in Theatre Award (1985), a salute by The Players Club as The First Lady of Off-Broadway (1986), induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame (1990), and the Drama League's Unique Contribution to Theatre Award (1993). In 1986 the Lucille Lortel awards were established in her name to honor outstanding productions and individual achievements in each Off-Broadway season. Lortel was nominated for five Tony Awards. In October 1998, less than six months before she passed away, The Playwrights' Sidewalk at the Lucille Lortel Theatre was dedicated, enshrining an international roster of playwrights whose works have been produced Off Broadway.
