Mark Lamos, artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse, will stage the theatrical valentine that is scheduled to officially open June 24. "In 1948, playwright A.R. Gurney, then a young boarding school student, traveled to New York where he attended a performance of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, going backstage afterwards to meet the production's star, the great stage actress Katharine Cornell, who was dubbed 'The First Lady of the American Stage' by the legendary critic Alexander Woollcott. A mix of remembrance and imagination, The Grand Manner is a love letter to this fabled actress and a heartfelt look back at the glorious heyday of the Broadway theatre," read press notes for the new Gurney work.

Casting will be announced at a later date.

A.R. Gurney is the author of Love Letters, The Dining Room, Sylvia, The Cocktail Hour, Ancestral Voices, Big Bill, Indian Blood, Children and Crazy Mary. His plays have earned him Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Rockefeller awards.

Director Mark Lamos previously collaborated with Gurney on his 2004 play Big Bill, which also played LCT's Newhouse. He has also staged the LCT productions of Cymbeline, Seascape, Measure for Measure and The Rivals. Lamos has directed the Broadway productions of Our Country's Good, The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm and The Deep Blue Sea.

For further information visit LCT.