The Forgotten Woman, a comedy set in the world of opera divas by Jonathan Tolins, the author of the Off-Broadway hit Buyer & Cellar, will get a developmental workshop and reading at Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut in February, one of four plays being presented as part of the theatre’s New Works Initiative.

The play, which had a production last summer at Bay Street Theatre across Long Island Sound in Sag Harbor, will be joined by the following in January and February, with plot summaries supplied by the Playhouse:

The Vendler Television Playhouse by Susan Rice, a farcical comedy about a 1950s live television studio and its wacky cast of characters, January 19. The reading will star Tony Award winner Joanna Gleason and will be directed by Robert Cary, Fairfield native and co-writer of Grease Live!

Matthew Greene’s Thousand Pines, the heart-stopping tale of a small-town tragedy that weaves some unsuspecting families together, will be workshopped January 25 and 26. The play will be directed by Playhouse vet and star of stage and screen, Austin Pendleton.

The Biggest Valley by A. Zell Williams will be workshopped January 27. The play is set in Fresno, California, in the late ‘90s, where a single mother struggles to help her children through teen pregnancy, racial tensions, and a life she never dreamed for them.

The Forgotten Woman, a gleeful comedy about an operatic superstar and her tumultuous offstage life, is written by Jonathan Tolins, who penned last season’s Playhouse comedy hit, Buyer & Cellar. Tolins’ new play will have a reading February 6.

The plays will be presented in readings before an invited audience.

“Our goal is to nurture and nourish new writing and to seek exciting projects for our five-play seasons," said Mark Lamos, Westport Country Playhouse artistic director.

For more information, call (203) 227-5137, ext. 134, or visit www.westportplayhouse.org. Westport Country Playhouse is located at 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport.