The Westport Country Playhouse today announced its 2017 season with some new twists –- a later starting and ending time and with two of the five plays in the fall instead of one as in past years.
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Playhouse Artistic Director Mark Lamos will helm 87th season. Bruce Plotkin photo
Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos, 2017 will mark the Connecticut professional theater’s 87th season.
Based on patron feedback, the 2017 season will run from May 30 through Nov. 19, an announcement said. In addition to a five-play season package, a “Pick 4” package will be introduced.
Patrons may select any four plays during the entire season, a change when previously, a four-play season ticket only provided a choice between the first four or last four productions.
The season will kick off with “Lettice and Lovage,” a 1990 Tony Award nominee for Best Play, written by Peter Shaffer, author of “Amadeus.”
The comedy tells of Miss Lettice Duffet, a tour guide for one of Britain’s stately homes, who creates outrageous, exaggerated stories to make the stuffy house’s historic past more fascinating. Playing May 30 through June 17, Lamos will direct.
Up next: “Appropriate,” a 2014-15 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play. It is a comic drama about family secrets, written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins.
When the Lafayette children gather to catalog their recently deceased father’s Arkansas estate, they discover a shameful legacy. Directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, the play runs July 11 through July 29.
No. 3 is “Grounded,” winner of the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Production and a Fringe First Award at the Edinburg Fringe Festival. The contemporary drama, written by George Brant, involves an ace fighter pilot, grounded by an unexpected pregnancy, who is reassigned as a drone pilot in Las Vegas where the realities of war and suburban comfort collide. Short-listed for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, the play runs Aug. 15 through Sept. 2.
The No. 4 play is “Sex with Strangers,” a look at a modern relationship in the digital age, written by Laura Eason. When Ethan, a young sex blogger, turned bestselling author, meets Olivia, a reclusive, 30-something novelist, dating turns dark as self-reinvention is just a click away. The play will be staged Sept. 26 through Oct. 14.
The 2017 season culminates with one of the greatest love stories ever told, “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. The tale of two star-crossed teenagers, who fight to love each other in a violent world, will run Oct. 31 through Nov. 19, 2017, directed by Lamos, who the New York Post said, “is among the finest Shakespearean directors in the world.”
All play titles, artists, and dates are subject to change.
The performance schedule is Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.
Special series feature Taste of Tuesday, LGBT Night OUT, Opening Night, Sunday Symposium, Open Captions, Thursday TalkBack, Together at the Table Family Dinner, Playhouse Happy Hour, and Backstage Pass.
Five-Play and Pick 4 season tickets are now available, including online purchasing capability 24/7. Patrons who purchase by the Early Bird Deadline of Saturday, Sept. 10, will receive an exclusive Early Bird Guest Pass – a free ticket to share with a friend.
