Laura Eason, writer-producer on the Netflix drama “House of Cards,” will be guest speaker at the Westport Country Playhouse’s Sunday Symposium Oct. 1 following a 3 p.m. performance of her play “Sex with Strangers.”

Laura Eason: “House of Cards” writer-producer. Meredith Zinner photo

The program is free and open to the public.

According to theater officials, Eason will discuss her play with David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director.

“Sex with Strangers” explores the complicated new world in which every past relationship lives forever on the web, providing an entertaining, up-to-date take on love in the digital age,” says Patricia Blaufuss, Playhouse spokeswoman.

By Susan Granger

If you needed proof of the adage “Love is blind,” look no further than “mother!” in which Jennifer Lawrence stars in her boyfriend Darren Aronofsky’s macabre horror/melodrama that’s tinged with increasingly hysterical, pseudo-religious overtones.

Writer/director Aronofsky blends “Rosemary’s Baby” with “Requiem for a Dream,” making the cynical assertion that — for the artist — creative inspiration is more important than love or life itself.

Opening with the image of a huge Victorian country house burning, along with its female inhabitant (Lawrence), it relates the tortured tale of a nameless, archetypal couple (Lawrence, Javier Bardem).

He’s a famous, self-absorbed poet who craves adoration and idolatry. Serving as his self-sacrificing “inspiration,” she’s renovated and restored his idyllic old house, which burned down before they met. Like a radiant Earth Mother, she’s determined to “make a paradise” for him, even while self-medicating.

Scenes from tonight’s opening reception for the Westport Arts Center’s “Vivian Maier – A Lifetime of Photographs” exhibit. Maier was an American street photographer who worked for about 40 years as a nanny, starting in New York City then mostly in Chicago’s North Shore, pursuing photography during her spare time. She died in 2009 at age 83. J.C. Martin and Leslie LaSala for WestportNow.com

Ten-year-old Aron Hedberg tonight gets a close up view of one of the self portraits in the Westport Arts Center “Vivian Maier – A Lifetime of Photographs” exhibit at an opening reception. The exhibition features more than 70 color and black and white photos taken by the secretive nanny-photographer during her lifetime. It will be on view through Nov. 10.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Leslie LaSala for WestportNow.com

Scenes from tonight’s Westport Library Transformation Project groundbreaking. Dave Matlow and Lynn U. Miller for WestportNow.com and WestportNow.com photos

The Westport Library’s Great Hall was packed tonight as a large crowd attended the official groundbreaking for the library’s transformation project. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

The Westport Arts Center and Westport Farmers’ Market tonight announced and honored the finalists in the third annual Young Shoots student digital photography competition at a gallery-like reception at Sugar & Olives restaurant. Pictured are first place winners in each age group who won an opportunity to co-lead a photo shoot at The Whelk restaurant with renowned chef Bill Taibe (r) and a $100 cash prize. They are (l-r) Lil Dowell (ages 15-18), Samantha Henske (ages 8-10), and Josh Suggs (ages 10-14). (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Adriana Reis for WestportNow.com