The professional theatre in Westport, CT, will feature works by David Ives, C. P. Taylor and Alan Ayckbourn, as well as a special production by Arthur Miller in honor of his 100th birthday, throughout its 85th season.
"Our 2015 season is a particularly rich and satisfying smorgasbord of plays — with a couple extra desserts thrown in," artistic director Mark Lamos said in a statement. "We hope to enrich your Playhouse experience with entertainment that ranges from the hilarity of brilliant farce to the striking power of insightful, moving drama. Theater that's not only worth talking about, but one which engages hearts through laughter, passion, and gripping storytelling."
David Ives' The Liar kicks off the season. Performances begin May 5, 2015, and continue through May 23. Here's how the production is billed: "Ives deftly updates a classic comedy of manners, Pierre Corneille's The Liar, with his trademark intelligence, cheek, and wit. In The Liar, Dorante has a gift for stretching the truth. In fact, he rips it apart at the seams. But when the first-rate fabulist falls in love with Clarice — or is she Lucrece? — he begins to weave an increasingly intricate web of lies that even he can't keep up with. Add to the mix a loyal servant, a meddling father, and a jealous best friend, and the scene is set for a misadventure of romance that's short on truth but long on laughter."
"And a Nightingale Sang," by C. P. Taylor, will play June 9–27. "As the world rushes toward the brink of war in 1939, the working-class Stott family in Northern England spends its days worrying about popular songs and marriage proposals, priests and pets, getting on and making the best of it," press notes state. "At the center of this domestic chaos is Helen, the plain and longsuffering daughter, who finds herself unexpectedly awakened to the possibilities of love by a soldier on leave. David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, will helm the production."
A mid-season production, which will run July 21-Aug. 8, will be announced at a later date. Bedroom Farce, by Alan Ayckbourn, will play Aug. 25-Sept. 12. Here's how the production is billed: "The bedroom is the one room that sees the best, the worst, and the most of us. To the couples in Bedroom Farce, it's also a dining room, a workshop, a cloakroom, and a boxing ring. Over the course of one very long Saturday evening, in three separate bedrooms, the roles and relationships of four couples, and one almost love triangle, are laid bare, complete with squabbles, bothers, a few bruises, and a hilariously touching epiphany."
Arthur Miller's Broken Glass, a drama about New York Jews suffering from afar as they read accounts of atrocities in 1938 Nazi Germany as the winds of war begin to threaten Europe, will be presented in honor of Miller's 100th birthday. Performances run Oct. 6–31. "Phillip Gellberg, a man driven by career and a desire to assimilate, has little time for his wife Sylvia, nor for the events of the world," press notes state. "But when Sylvia loses the use of her legs, Dr. Harry Hyman must determine the cause of her mysterious affliction. His discoveries begin to reveal a marriage fractured by guilt, intolerance, and personal tragedy, and incites a dangerous game of concealment and suspicion. The play explores what happens when the lines between what we believe and what is true, between our private fears and public fixations, begin to fade away."
Tickets and more information are available by calling (203) 227-4177 or visiting westportplayhouse.org.
