Westport Country Playhouse

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Box Office
Phone: 203.227.4177
Fax: 203.454.3238
Toll-free 888.927.7529

Box Office Hours:

During Performances:
Closed on Mondays
Tuesday – Friday
12noon to 8:30pm
Saturdays
11am to 8:30pm
Sundays
11am to 3:30pm

Non-Performance Days:
Closed on Mondays
Tuesday – Friday
12noon to 6pm

Administrative Office
Phone: 203.227.5137
Fax: 203.221.7482

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Suddenly Last Summer

Written By Tennessee Williams

Directed By David Kennedy

August 23 - September 10

OverviewArtistsRelated EventsMediaA Closer Look

Susan Bennett
Miss Foxhill
Westport Country Playhouse: On the Verge. Broadway: The House of Blue Leaves (Scott Rudin, Stuart Thompson, Jean Doumanian, Producers). Off-Broadway: Our Town, Orson’s Shadow (Barrow Street Theatre); Levittown (Theatre at St. Clement’s); Crime and Punishment (59E59 Theaters); Beautiful Thing (Cherry Lane Theatre). Regional: God of Carnage (Hartford TheaterWorks); The Dazzle (Steppenwolf Theatre); Long Day’s Journey into Night (Goodman Theatre); The Heidi Chronicles, On The Verge (Arena Stage); The Glass Menagerie (Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Top Girls, The Secret Rapture (Remy Bumppo Theatre). TV: “Law & Order,” “Rescue Me.”

Ryan Garbayo
George Holly
Unrequited (The Public Theater Shakespeare Lab); The Awake (Portland Stage Company); The Glass Menagerie, The Winter's Tale, Reckless, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Chautauqua Theater Company); 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, Once in a Lifetime, Strindberg/Strindberg, The Storm, The Philanderer, The Hot L Baltimore, Antony and Cleopatra (NYU Graduate Acting). Training: MFA NYU Grad Acting, BFA Emerson College, The Shakespeare Lab 2007.

Annalee Jefferies
Mrs. Venable
Ms. Jefferies was in the nine-hour trilogy of Horton Foot’s Orphans’ Home Cycle, which won the Drama Desk Award for “Theatrical Event of the Season.” She has played Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire, Hannah in Night of the Iguana, Carol in Orpheus Descending and Amanda in The Glass Menagerie, which was among The Wall Street Journal’s best 10 productions of 2009. She toured England in John Barton’s ten-hour epic Tantalus, directed by Sir Peter Hall. Her film credits include The Girl, Monsters, Violets Are Blue and No Mercy. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London.

Charlotte Maier
Mrs. Holly
Broadway: God of Carnage, Inherit the Wind, Losing Louie, Dinner at Eight, A Delicate Balance, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Life x 3, Picnic, Brooklyn Boy, Arsenic and Old Lace. Off-Broadway: The Last Yankee (Manhattan Theatre Club), Balm in Gilead (Circle Repertory), You Should Be So Lucky. Regional: The Father, Night of the Iguana (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Book of the Night (Goodman Theatre); Miss Julie (Portland Stage). Film: Two Weeks Notice, Steve Martin's The Pink Panther, Music and Lyrics, The Orphan Killer (forthcoming). Television: “Law & Order SVU,” “All My Children,” “As the World Turns,” Sondheim Celebration at Carnegie Hall.

Liv Rooth
Catharine Holly
Broadway: Born Yesterday, Is He Dead? Off-Broadway: Jane Eyre (The Acting Company), Wife to James Whelan (Mint Theater), Women Beware Women (Red Bull Theatre), A Doll’s House (Studio Tisch), The Obstruction Plays (Slant Theatre Project), Still Life (Abingdon Theatre). Regional: Boeing-Boeing (The Old Globe), Noises Off (Hartford Stage), Surf Report (La Jolla Playhouse), Pride and Prejudice (Geva Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival). Upcoming: Blood and Gifts (Lincoln Center Theater). Film/TV: The Wrong Girl, “The Good Wife,” ichannel. MFA: NYU Graduate Acting Program (Marcia Gay Harden Scholarship). BA: Dartmouth.

Lee Aaron Rosen
Dr. Cukrowicz
Westport Country Playhouse: Mary’s Wedding. Broadway: The Normal Heart. Off-Broadway: Gabriel (Atlantic Theatre Company). Other regional credits include All My Sons (Huntington Theatre); Barefoot in the Park (Actors Theatre of Louisville); The Matchmaker (Centerstage); The Member of the Wedding (Ford’s Theatre); The Game (Barrington Stage); and Once in a Lifetime, Loot, and God of Vengeance (Williamstown Theatre Festival). Film: Saving Private Ryan, Company K. TV: “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Guiding Light.” MFA from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program, and a proud volunteer at New York’s 52nd Street Project.

Tina Stafford
Sister Felicity
Favorite recent performances include: I Married Wyatt Earp (59E59th St. Theaters), Richard III (New York Classical Theatre), and continuing work with the new musical Cagney! (Florida Stage, Riverside Theatre). Other credits: Into the Woods (Moises Kaufman, director, Kansas City Repertory Theatre); Zhivago (Des McAnuff, director, La Jolla Playhouse); Little Shop of Horrors, Comedy of Errors (Utah Shakespearean Festival); Measure for Measure, King Lear, The Learned Ladies (Texas Shakespeare Festival); Sweeney Todd, Lizzie Borden, Dorian (Goodspeed Musicals); Jolson, the Musical (National Tour). TV: “All My Children.” Proud member, Actors’ Equity Association.

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)
Playwright
Tennessee Williams was one of America’s most prolific and important playwrights. His prodigious output included The Glass Menagerie (New York Drama Critics Award 1944), A Streetcar Named Desire (New York Drama Critics Award, Pulitzer Prize 1947), Summer and Smoke (1948), The Rose Tattoo (1951), Camino Real (1953), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (New York Drama Critics Award, Pulitzer Prize 1955), Orpheus Descending (1957), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), Night of the Iguana (1961), The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore (1963), Out Cry (1973), Vieux Carre (1977), A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur (1979), and Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1981). Not About Nightingales, which he wrote in 1947, was produced at the Royal National Theatre, London, and at the Alley Theatre, Houston, in 1998 with great success.

David Kennedy
Director/Westport Country Playhouse Associate Artistic Director
Westport Country Playhouse: Beyond Therapy, Dinner with Friends. Kennedy joined the Playhouse in March 2009 as associate artistic director. He previously served as associate artistic director at Dallas Theater Center from 2004 to 2008, where his directing credits included The Misanthrope, Glengarry Glen Ross, I Am My Own Wife, The Violet Hour and Thom Pain (based on nothing). He has also staged productions at the Wilma Theater, Clarence Brown Theatre Company, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, 78th Street Theatre Lab, Prospect Theater Company and Kitchen Dog Theater, among others. He is a founding artistic director of The Lunar Society in Toronto and Milkman Theatre Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was artistic director of The Summer Cabaret in New Haven. Kennedy is a former Phil Killian Fellow at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a Drama League Directing Fellow, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Narelle Sissons
Scenic Design
Broadway: All My Sons (Roundabout Theatre). Off-Broadway: How I Learned to Drive (original production); Stop Kiss, In the Blood, Kit Marlowe, Julius Caesar, Little Flower of East Orange (The Public Theater); Mabou Mines DollHouse (St. Ann’s Warehouse). Many productions with LAByrinth Theater, LightBox, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, Epic Theatre Ensemble, Classic Stage Company and Women’s Project. International: Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train (director, Philip Seymour Hoffman, London and NY); Mabou Mines DollHouse, (director, Lee Breuer, US and World Tour); The Syringa Tree (Vienna, Austria and Frankfurt, Germany); No Child (Edinburgh Festival). Upcoming: Galileo by David Hare (Theatre Baltic House, St. Petersburg, Russia). Opera: Der Ferne Klang (Bard SummerScape). Nominations/awards: Drama Desk, Helen Hayes, American Theatre Wing, Kevin Kline Award, Back Stage West, Exhibitor at Prague Quadrennial 2007 and 2011.

Ilona Somogyi
Costume Design
Westport Country Playhouse: Tick, Tick…Boom!; Scramble!; Sedition; The Voice of the Turtle. Connecticut: Gem of the Ocean, Tom Sawyer, Noises Off, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hartford Stage); We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Passion Play (Yale Repertory Theatre). New York: Atlantic Theater Company, Playwrights Horizons, Vineyard Theatre, Signature Theatre, The Public Theater. Regionally: Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Denver Theater Center, Dallas Theater Center, among others. Ms. Somogyi is a graduate of and a faculty member at Yale School of Drama.

Matthew Richards
Lighting Design
Westport Country Playhouse: Dinner with Friends. NYC: Lincoln Center, Atlantic Theater Company, The Play Company, Playwrights Horizons, MCC, Second Stage, TheatreworksUSA, The Public Theater/LAByrinth, Brooklyn Academy of Music. Regional: Baltimore’s CENTERSTAGE, Bay Street Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Goodman Theatre, Hangar Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company, New York Stage and Film, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Round House Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre, Skylight Opera Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Wolf Trap Opera, Yale Repertory Theatre. Matthew is a graduate of The University of Massachusetts and The Yale School of Drama. www.matthewrichardsdesign.com.

Fitz Patton
Sound Design
Fitz Patton composes music and designs sound fields for theater. He has designed and scored over 200 productions in 20 cities across the U.S. In 2010 he was awarded both the Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk awards for his design for When the Rain Stops Falling at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. This July he concluded a three-week artist residency at iPark in East Haddam, Connecticut, where he collaborated with fellow artist Annea Lockwood on the installation of a large scale sensor activated environmental sound sculpture. His upcoming article, “The Music of Sound,” published by Live Design Magazine, will detail his process for the creation of a stochastic natural sound field for The Old Globe Theatre’s production of August: Osage County. He is a graduate of Vassar College, Bard College, and Yale University.

B. H. Barry
Fight Director
Westport Country Playhouse: That Championship Season, Of Mice and Men, How the Other Half Loves. Broadway: Kiss Me, Kate; The Life; Crazy for You; An Inspector Calls; City of Angels; Moon Over Buffalo. Off-Broadway: The Late Henry Moss, Thief River (Signature Theatre); Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Measure for Measure, Macbeth, Evil Dead: The Musical (Theatre for a New Audience); Don Giovanni, Carmen, Otello, Simon Boccanegra, Fanciulla (Metropolitan Opera). Barry just returned from choreographing Romeo and Juliet at La Scala in Milan. Last year, he was awarded a Tony Honor for his work in the theater. Film: The Impostors, Glory, The Addams Family, Mulan. TV: "All My Children." Drama Desk, Obie awards for Sustained and Consistent Excellence. Co-founder, Shakespeare and Company and Blue Light Theatre Company. www.BHBarry.com

Louis Colaianni
Dialect Coach
Westport Country Playhouse: The Circle. Broadway: Vocal coach, You’re Welcome, America, with Will Ferrell. Off-Broadway: Dialect coach, The Little Flower of East Orange. Regional: Voice and text director, Oregon Shakespeare Festival; voice, text and dialect coach, Utah Shakespearean Festival, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Trinity Repertory, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film: Dialect coach, Little Red Wagon (2012). Television: You’re Welcome, America, HBO. Author: The Joy of Phonetics and Accents (Drama Book Publishers), and How to Speak Shakespeare (Santa Monica Press). Adjunct Associate Professor of Acting Classics at The Actors Studio MFA program at Pace University.

Matthew Melchiorre
Production Stage Manager
Westport Country Playhouse: Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Beyond Therapy (directed by David Kennedy); The Diary of Anne Frank; Happy Days; She Loves Me; That Championship Season ; Tick, Tick...Boom!; Around the World in 80 Days; A Holiday Garland; The Pavilion. Primary Stages: A.R. Gurney’s Black Tie; Happy Now?; Shipwrecked, An Entertainment!...; A.R. Gurney’s Buffalo Gal. Broadway: The Light in the Piazza, Coram Boy, Hamlet, Curtains, Monty Python’s Spamalot, Wicked, The Lion King, All Shook Up, The Frogs. Off-Broadway: White Chocolate, Open Heart, The Architecture of Loss. Other: Show Boat In Concert (Carnegie Hall).

Alison M. Roberts
Assistant Stage Manager
Westport Country Playhouse: The Diary of Anne Frank, Around the World in 80 Days. Broadway: Billy Elliot: The Musical; A Steady Rain; Les Misérables (Revival); The Addams Family; Irving Berlin's White Christmas; Disney's The Little Mermaid. Off-Broadway: NYSF/Public Theater, Primary Stages. Regional: Paper Mill Playhouse, New Freedom Theater. MFA: Rutgers University. Proud member of Actor's Equity.

Janet Foster, C.S.A.
Casting
Westport Country Playhouse: Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Circle; Beyond Therapy; The Diary of Anne Frank; I Do! I Do!; Happy Days; Dinner with Friends; She Loves Me; The Breath of Life; That Championship Season; Tick, Tick... Boom!; Around the World in 80 Days. Broadway: The Light in the Piazza (Artios Award nomination), Lennon, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Taking Sides (Co-Cast). Off-Broadway: Lucy, Close Ties, Brundibar, True Love, Endpapers, The Dying Gaul, The Maiden’s Prayer, Dream True, Trojan Women, A Love Story. Playwrights Horizons: Floyd Collins, The Monogamist, A Cheever Evening, Later Life and many more. Regional: Intiman Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, A Contemporary Theatre, California Shakespeare Theater, Berkeley Repertory, Dallas Theater Center, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Yale Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Old Globe, CENTERSTAGE and ART. Film/TV: “Cosby” (CBS); “Tracy Takes on New York” (HBO); The Deal by Lewis Black; and Advice from a Caterpillar. Radio: BBC World Services "The Day that Lehman Died," a recent Peabody Award winner, directed by John Dryden.
Tester for Artists

Post-Performance Salons
Following each performance* of Suddenly Last Summer, the Playhouse will host a post-show salon for patrons to discuss the play in the Smilow Lounge on the Playhouse's mezzanine level. Engage in an open conversation about the play and your response/reaction to the mind of Tennessee Williams.
* Please note there will be no salons on Saturday, August 27; Sunday, August 28; Wednesday, September 7 at 2pm; Thursday, September 8.

LGBT Night OUT
Thursday, August 25
6:30pm reception ● 8pm performance
Specifically for the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender community and allies, the evening is the result of a wonderful partnership with the Triangle Community Center and will feature complimentary appetizers from Collyer Catering, adult beverages and fabulous door prizes.

Opening Night
Saturday, August 27
8pm performance and post-show reception
Join the cast, crew and staff for a festive celebration immediately following the performance featuring food provided by Cabot Cheese and Whole Foods and wine from Castle Wine.

Sunday Symposium
Sunday, August 28
3pm performance and post-show discussion
Join moderator David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, and special guest Annette J. Saddik, Associate Professor in the English Department at New York City College of Technology (CUNY), as they discuss Tennessee Williams, the origins of Suddenly Last Summer, and the playwright’s fascination with the darker aspects of human experience. The Symposium will be followed by an interactive dialogue.

A Distant Country Called Youth
Monday, August 29
7pm
In celebration of Tennessee Williams' centennial year, the Playhouse will stage a special performance by acclaimed actor Richard Thomas in A Distant Country Called Youth, based on a collection of lively and evocative letters written by a young Tennessee Williams. Tickets are just $15

Together at the Table
Wednesday, August 31
6:30pm dinner ● 8pm performance
Families are invited to enjoy a communal dinner provided by Rizzuto’s in the Playhouse’s rehearsal barn and a casual conversation about the show before attending a performance, all for just $10. Recommended for ages 16 and up.

Backstage Pass
Wednesday, September 7
Immediately following the 2pm performance
Join the Playhouse production staff as they share with you the finer points of what makes a play work on the stage. From moveable scenery to lighting effects, from trapdoors to design renderings, you never know what you’ll see.

TalkBack
Thursday, September 8
Immediately following the 8pm performance
The actors take the stage again for an interactive, lively Q&A with the audience.

Reviews

For all media inquiries please contact:

Patricia Blaufuss, Public Relations Manager 203-227-5137 x 197 or pblaufuss@westportplayhouse.org

Review Quotes - Suddenly Last Summer
(Playing August 23 - September 10, 2011)

Behind the Curtain/Hartford Courant

By Frank Rizzo

“...gripping...expertly conceived and staged... a stunner...This is a must for any Williams fan; as good a production as one is likely to see of this challenging play.”

Hartford Arts Examiner

By Andrew Beck

“...the clever, powerful work of one of America's greatest playwrights.”

Hersam-Acorn Newspapers

By Joanne Greco Rochman

“...grippingly rendered... this play is great theater...insightfully clear direction...stellar cast... suspenseful, enlightening, and thoroughly entertaining.”

Middletown Press

By Bonnie Goldberg

“As chilling as the frozen daiquiri drink... gripping...”

New York Times

By Anita Gates

“...Quintessential Williams themes... intense, atmospheric production...”

The Ridgelea Reports on Theatre

By Tom Nissley

“...absolutely beautiful production...”

WNHU

By Karen and Bob Isaacs

“...a totally arresting production... Director David Kennedy moves this one act play along with intensity. He is certainly helped by the terrific set, lighting, sound and costumes. AND the cast... we have seen other productions, but this production is the best we have ever seen. It really moved us.”

Newtown Bee

By Julie Stern

“If you like Tennessee Williams - and personally I think he is up there with the greatest American playwrights, Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller - then this is definitely worth seeing.”

New Haven Theater Jerk

By Christopher Arnott

“...the air of film noir... seeing it in this composed, modernistic, technically pristine yet lived-in production, I see how flexible and wondrous a script it is. It may be hard to swallow, but it goes down easy.”

Identidad Latina

By Bessy Reyna

“…nos ha brindado una gran producción teatral de esta obra…WCP nos abrió sus puertas para invitarnos a que entremos a ese mundo incomparable creado por él [Tennessee Williams].”

Karen Dydzuhn, Patron

“...brilliant...a powerful interpretation of this unbelievable playwright's work...wonderful theater experience.”

News/Articles

September 10, 2011
WestportNow.com
Suddenly Last Summer Ends Storm-Shortened Playhouse Run
Photo by Helen Klisser During

September 2, 2011
WestportPatch.com
Standing Ovation at Westport Country Playhouse for
Richard Thomas' Portrayal of Tennessee Williams
by Karen Dydzuhn

August 26, 2011
WestportPatch.com
Richard Thomas Portrays Tennessee Williams at Westport Country Playhouse
by Karen Dydzuhn

August 24, 2011
WestportPatch.com
Tennessee Williams' Agent Called Westport 'Home'
by Karen Dydzuhn

August 23, 2011
Hearst News Media
Annalee Jefferies in Suddenly Last Summer in Westport
by Joe Meyers

August 17, 2011
WestportPatch.com
Westport Stages Suddenly Last Summer
by Karen Dydzuhn

August 11, 2011
Connecticut Post
Westport Marks Williams Centennial with Suddenly Last Summer
by Joe Meyers

July 28, 2011
Theatermania.com
Richard Thomas to Star in A Distant Country Called Youth at Westport Country Playhouse
by Dan Bacalzo

Press Releases

August 16, 2011
Westport Country Playhouse Offers Special Events and Opportunities
during the Run of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer

August 2, 2011
Celebrating Tennessee Williams' Centennial Year:
Westport Country Playhouse Stages Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer,
Directed by David Kennedy

July 28, 2011
Tennessee Williams Centennial Event:
Richard Thomas To Star in A Distant Country Called Youth at Westport Country Playhouse