“Bravo!” for Community Partnerships

Westport Country Playhouse is always looking for opportunities to collaborate with our fellow community organizations and, in 2011, we were lucky enough to have the rewarding experience of partnering with the Fairfield Museum and History Center on their current exhibit “Bravo! A Century of Theatre in Fairfield County,” which has recently been extended until April 1, 2012. There is a wealth of programs and activities scheduled in conjunction with the exhibit in the next several months, including a staged reading of Small World by Frederick Stroppel this Sunday, January 22 at 3:00pm, presented by Theatre Artists Workshop (Westport Country Playhouse patrons will receive a 20% discount for mentioning this article!).

The seeds for this collaboration were planted all the way back in 2010, when the Playhouse’s two year 80th Anniversary celebration was in full swing. Born from an idea generated in our 80th Anniversary Celebration Committee, we reached out to Fairfield Museum and History Center to discuss a way to display our rich history, both in Fairfield County and the regional theater movement. The History Center then expanded on these ideas to create a fascinating exhibit, widening the focus to the full history of theater in Fairfield County, including the White Barn Theatre and the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre.

“This was an opportunity to share our history in an exceptional way and with a first-class exhibit,” explains Playhouse Public Relations Manager Pat Blaufuss, “We wanted to convey an understanding of where we started and where we are now.” The Museum was on exactly the same page. They wanted audiences to “realize what theatre history went on in our own backyard” as well as “inspire the actors and audiences of tomorrow,” according to Fairfield Museum Director of Exhibitions and Programs Kathleen Bennewitz.

While we’re always excited about new partnership opportunities, this particular exhibit was really unique for us here at the Playhouse as we were able to share so much of our own history. “Without the Westport Country Playhouse’s support, it would be hard to tell the full story,” says Bennewitz, “The Playhouse became advocates as well as lenders to the exhibit.”

The Playhouse loaned many items from our collection, including set models, historic photos and artifacts from our lobby. While prominently featuring our illustrious past, we were also afforded the opportunity to display our vibrant present. In addition to our historical items, the exhibit also includes a display from Lips Together, Teeth Apart, which the Playhouse produced in 2011. The Museum put together costumes, set pieces, renderings and props from the Terrence McNally play, which, paired with our artifacts, aided in illustrating the Playhouse’s journey from past to present.

Community partnerships such as this have become an increasingly important aspect of our work here at the Playhouse. Not only does a partnership strengthen the ties between organizations and enrich our communal cultural fabric, but it can also help us expand and diversify our audiences. Often, the combined resources of two or more organizations can lead to a greater scope or substance in programming than one organization could achieve alone. Ultimately, this type of collaboration is beneficial for organizations, for communities and for you, our patrons! In 2012, we hope to discover partnerships that will be just as fruitful as our experience with the Fairfield Museum and History Center. For their success in collaboration and on their current exhibit, to them we say, Bravo!

For a complete calendar listing of events for this exhibit and more information about the Fairfield Museum and History center, please click here.

Jennifer McCool
Community Engagement Coordinator

  

Mark Lamos at Norway’s Den Nye Opera

Before raising the curtain on the Playhouse’s 2012 Season with Sondheim’s Into the Woods this spring, our very own Mark Lamos will travel across the Atlantic to direct the Norwegian premiere of Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’Etoile at the city of Bergen’s Den Nye Opera.

Produced in collaboration with New York City Opera, where Mark’s beloved production of this effervescent French opera was last performed, L’Etoile will be a rare treat for Den Nye’s audiences. “French opera is rarely performed in Norway,” said Mark. “This is quite new for them.”

Not only will Mark’s L’Etoile be a new experience for Norway audiences, but Den Nye Opera and Norway itself will be new for him as well. This project came to him through a connection between the Playhouse’s Managing Director Michael Ross and Den Nye’s Artistic Director, Mary Miller, the former director of the New Haven International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and Mark’s trip to Bergen this past spring to begin preparations for the February production was his first visit to the country. “I knew that Bergen was an important cultural center for all of Scandinavia,” Mark shared. “I had staged an opera in Gothenburg, Sweden, years ago, and I've always wanted to see more of those countries.”

This production will both reunite Mark with artists he has worked with in past incarnations of L’Etoile and introduce him to a new team of international talent. “We will have the magnificent Jean-Paul Fouchecourt as King Ouf [the opera’s male lead]; he is a great French tenor [and] a magnificent comic actor, to boot,” said Mark. “He has performed the role internationally, as well as at NYCO for me, and nobody can touch him in this zany role.”

Renowned French conductor Emmanuel Plasson, who conducted Mark’s production in New York, will also be joining the team, but this time at the helm of the Bergen Philharmonic orchestra joined by Kor Vest, a French-Norwegian team of soloists. “It's important that this piece have French artists at the helm, especially since the director and the choreographer are American,” added Mark. “The Gallic sensibility is really important to capture the fizz and frothiness of the piece.”

With this exciting and diverse group of artists at his side, Mark couldn’t be more excited to return to the international stage. “It thrills me to work with artists in other countries, to learn from them about the many ways we all strive towards, and occasionally reach, the same goals,” he shared. “There's also the fun of meeting people and seeing places that are completely different from the people with whom you normally associate and work. I really enjoy that-- being the visitor.”

But is it difficult for an American director to work with a multinational company on a French opera? “Cultural differences always abound and surprise either delightfully or with challenges,” answered Mark. But, somehow, coming together for a creative purpose is often transcendent. “From Moscow to Toronto, from Gothenburg to San Francisco, everyone works very hard to make something beautiful and unique.”

L’Etoile will play at Den Nye Opera February 4 through February 9. Click here for more information about this exciting production!

Kim Furano
Artistic & Management Associate

  

Not-So-Classic Fairy Tales

Do you remember those beloved tales from your childhood, Cinderumplestiltskin and Little Red Running Shorts? Not quite? These are just a couple of examples of the twisted and irreverent versions of classic fairy tales that you will find in our upcoming Family Festivities production of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. The Griffin Theatre of Chicago has taken the popular children’s book by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith – complete with its cheeky humor and hijinks – and brought it to stages around the country in the form of a new musical, coming to Playhouse for two performances only on Sunday, January 29.

The Griffin, which for the past twenty years has created theatrical programming for both children and adults, was last seen at the Playhouse in 2009 with our Veteran’s Day presentation of Letters Home, a work of documentary theater featuring actual correspondence by servicemen and women from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. From Letters Home to much lighter works such as Frindle and The Stinky Cheese Man, the Griffin produces theater ranging from literary adaptations and classic works to new plays.

As a book, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales falls in this range somewhere in the new-classic area. Originally published in 1992, the book has rapidly become a favorite among those who enjoy a bit of mischievous fun. At the center of the story is the smart-aleck hero Jack and his attempt to escape the hungry Giant (of beanstalk fame) by distracting him with a few yarns. Jack re-weaves familiar tales into hilarious, deconstructed versions, where characters move in and out of the narrative – that pesky Little Red Hen just won’t leave Jack alone – and everyone is just a little more self-aware and of-the-moment than what you might find in the fairy tale versions by the Brothers Grimm. Authors Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, brought this cheekiness to another of their children’s books The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, as told from the perspective of Alexander T. Wolf.

In the Griffin Theatre’s The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, that silliness will be front and center, as Jack tries to distract the Giant and escape becoming his meal. You’ll never think of the Frog Prince in the same way again!

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales will hit the Playhouse stage for one day only: Sunday, January 29, at 1:00pm and 4:00pm. Click here for more information or to get your tickets today!

Angela Marroy Boerger
Education & Community Programs Coordinator

  

Playhouse Interns: Where Are They Now? 

	Deirdre Callahan Development Intern, 2007 Deirdre became full-time staff upon the completion of her internship. She spent a year as Research and Systems Associate in the development department. In 2009 she left the Playhouse, but stayed in the not-for-profit sector, working through AmeriCorps with Habitat for Humanity in Durham, North Carolina. Currently she is living in North Carolina and is Development Coordinator for the Chordoma Foundation. This foundation supports research for the treatment and cure of chordoma, a rare bone cancer that affects the spine.
	Stephanie Coulombe Administrative Intern, 2003 Stephanie was a part of the final intern class to work in the “old barn” but then went on to work in the Playhouse’s development department, this time in the renovated building. From here she went on to spend a few years living, studying and working in London, but has recently returned to the US. She’s now back in NYC, working as the Technical Finance Manager for The Metropolitan Opera.
	Kristy (Farrell) Cummings Company Management Intern, 2002 Almost ten years after interning here at the Playhouse, Kristy has quite the resume. After graduating from Fairfield University in 2004, she moved to NYC to pursue a career as an actor, subsequently becoming a member of Actor’s Equity Association. She then got married, switched career paths and earned her MFA in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College. During graduate school she received the Hauptman Fellowship at the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. She is still at SDC, working in the contract department and with the SDC Foundation, part-time, as she and her husband had a son, Connor, in June 2011.
	Andrew Kirsch Scenic Construction Intern, 2006 Following his internship, Andrew stayed on here at the Playhouse as a carpenter, helping to build the sets for six straight seasons. At the completion of the 2011 season, he relocated to San Francisco and has just taken a position at a specialty metal fabricator in Oakland, CA called Performance Structures, Inc. They create large art installations specializing mirrored finishes, Cloud Gate (or the Chicago Bean) in Chicago’s Millennium Park being their most notable piece. Currently Andrew is working on a project that will be part of Olympic celebrations in London.
	Chad Rabinovitz Directing Intern, 2003 Though Chad stayed on at the Playhouse as Artistic Associate after completing his internship, Bloomington, Indiana is now the place he calls home. He serves as the Producing Artistic Director of Bloomington Playwrights Project, the only professional theater in the state of Indiana dedicated solely to new plays. While at BPP he’s directed world premieres by such playwrights as Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Daniels, Israel Horovitz, Jon Marans (Old Wicked Songs at WCP), Jeremy Schonfeld, Greg Kotis, Christine Whitley and Amanda Rogers (Perfect Wedding at WCP). His company also offers the Woodward/Newman Drama Award – an annual playwriting contest in search of the world’s best new drama.
	Maggie Villegas Stage Management Intern, 2007 Maggie currently resides in Baltimore, MD, where she co-founded a mixed media arts nonprofit, EMP COLLECTIVE, for which she serves as the Producing Director. On top of that, she is the resident stage manager for Lyric Opera Baltimore and also freelances in the Baltimore/DC area and abroad.
	Alissa Wassung Wardrobe Intern, 2006 After serving as Head of Wardrobe upon completion of her internship at WCP, followed by more costuming around the country, Alissa went back to school at Yale and earned her bachelor’s degree in political science. She now works at a non-sectarian food and nutrition non-profit in New York City called God’s Love We Deliver where she handles their policy and advocacy. The organization delivers individually-tailored, nutritious meals to those who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves. She does still costume on the side, when she gets a chance.

Camara McLaughlin
House/Event Manager