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Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Playhouse Gets $2 Million to Maintain White Barn Legacy

Westport Country Playhouse officials announced Monday they have received a $2 million capital grant from the Lucille Lortel Foundation to name in perpetuity the building adjacent to the theater as “The Lucille Lortel White Barn Center.”
Getting Grant: There was a large crowd on hand at Monday’s acceptance of a grant by the Westport Country Playhouse from the Lucille Lortel Foundation.  Pictured are first row (l-r): Tazewell Thompson, WCP artistic director-designate; Ann Sheffer, WCP board member; Joanne Woodward, WCP artistic director and board member; Elisabeth Morten, WCP board chair. Second row (l-r): Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal; Anne Keefe, WCP associate artistic director; Jim Ross, president, Lucille Lortel Foundation, White Barn Theatre Foundation and Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation; Alison Harris, WCP executive director; Dick Ticktin, trustee, Lucille Lortel Foundation, White Barn Theatre Foundation and Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation; and Jerry Rosenberg, chief of charities bureau, office of New York State attorney general. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Kathleen O’Rourke for WestportNow.com

In addition, the Lucille Lortel Foundation has pledged a $500,000 operating grant over 10 years to create The White Barn Theatre Program at the Playhouse.

The original White Barn Theatre, founded by Lortel in 1947 to present experimental works, is now a museum located on Newtown Turnpike in Westport. Its final production there was in the summer of 2002. 

“We are honored to accept these gifts,” stated Joanne Woodward, Playhouse artistic director. “They are especially meaningful because I knew and admired Lucille Lortel.  Her generosity and commitment to the American theater guided the work at the White Barn for over half a century and were an inspiration to me.”

The Lucille Lortel Foundation grant brings the Playhouse’s five-year Campaign for a New Era to within $200,000 of its $30.6 million goal for Playhouse renovation and expansion, artistic and educational programming and an endowment. The campaign is scheduled to end on December 31, 2005.

James J. Ross, president of the Lucille Lortel Foundation, said, “The gifts fulfill the mission of the Foundation and the White Barn Theatre and continue Ms. Lortel’s efforts on behalf of emerging theatre professionals.”

The Lucille Lortel White Barn Center includes studio space suitable for theatrical rehearsals, workshops, meetings, educational programs and receptions.  It is fitted with a lounge, restrooms and offices for Playhouse staff.

New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, in the course of their oversight of charitable gifts in their respective states, were instrumental in ensuring that the Lucille Lortel Foundation and the Playhouse carry out Ms. Lortel’s vision.

“This priceless gift opens a second act for the White Barn Theatre – and sustains Lucille Lortel’s vibrant vision and legacy,” Blumenthal said. “A forum and funding will continue the innovative, powerful artistic achievement that she courageously nurtured. Our culture and community will be enduringly enriched by extraordinary theatrical programs. We mark today the fulfillment of Lucille Lortel’s legally binding intent, as well as her artistic wish.”

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The site is much, much faster now.  Thank-you!

Not only was Lucille Lortel extraordinarily helpful to young playwrights, directors and actors for decades, she also created many opportunites for us all to meet and learn from the international theater community. It is wonderful to see the vitality and growth Joanne Woodward and the group at the Westport Country Playhouse are sustaining and the new theatrical dimensions they have begun to explore.

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