WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE

WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE

 Westport Country Playhouse to Stage World Premiere Comedy “Harbor” by Tony Award Nominee Chad Beguelin, Directed by Mark Lamos

Westport Country Playhouse will stage the world premiere of a new comedy, “Harbor,” written by two-time Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin and directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, August 28 – September 15. The cast includes Tony Award nominee Bobby Steggert (Broadway’s “Ragtime”), Emmy Award nominee Paul Anthony Stewart (“Guiding Light”), Kate Nowlin and Alexis Molnar.

“Chad Beguelin’s play boasts beautifully observed comic writing about a very human, very dysfunctional, very loving family,” said Lamos. “I’m excited to be directing this world premiere because it is completely of-the-moment in its depiction of how the idea of ‘family’ is changing on a daily basis.”

“Harbor” opens with Ted and Kevin, who have been together for 10 years, in their picture perfect house in Sag Harbor. When Kevin’s ne’er-do-well sister Donna, whom he hasn’t seen in years, and her 15-year-old daughter arrive out of the blue, the pair’s idyllic life changes and tensions quickly bubble to the surface. The bonds between kith and kin are tested in this alternately biting, touching and hilarious new comedy about the constantly shifting nature of the meaning of family.

Lamos added, “It’s funny, it’s so true, it’s unusual. These characters are not like anybody you’ve ever met and yet you totally buy them.”

Bobby Steggert (Kevin) appeared on Broadway in “Ragtime” (Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League award nominations), “110 in the Shade” (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), and “Master Harold…and the Boys.” Off-Broadway, he was in “The Grand Manner,” directed by Mark Lamos; “Yank!” (Drama Desk, Drama League award nominations); and “The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island” (Drama Desk, Drama League award nominations). Upcoming work includes “Giant” at The Public Theater. On television he played a year as Sam Grey on “All My Children.”

Paul Anthony Stewart (Ted) appeared last season at Westport Country Playhouse in “Twelfth Night.” On Broadway, he was in “The People in the Picture,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and “Cyrano.” Regional theater credits include “The Last Five Years” (Berkshire Theatre Festival), “Funny Girl” (Drury Lane, Chicago), “Hello Again” (LA premiere), “Pera Palas” (Long Wharf Theatre), and “Children of Eden” (American premiere). On television he played Danny Santos on “Guiding Light,” for which he received an Emmy Award nomination.

Kate Nowlin will portray Donna. On the New York stage she appeared at the Atlantic Theatre and Second Stage, among other venues. Regionally, her theater credits includes “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Shakespeare Theatre Washington, D.C., for which she received a Helen Hayes Award nomination, and “Anthony and Cleopatra” at Guthrie Theater, both directed by Mark Lamos. Her film credits include “The Adjustment Bureau”; on television she appeared in “Pan Am” and “The Black Donnellys.”

Alexis Molar (Lottie) performed with RADA, Joe’s Pub, Le Poisson Rouge, and The GBS Players. On television, she appeared in “The Next Big Thing” (Oxygen), “Electric Company” (PBS), and “Danger Dawgz” (MTV). A high school senior, she trained with RADA London and Second City Chicago.

Playwright Chad Beguelin is a two-time Tony Award nominee for his work on the Broadway musical “The Wedding Singer” (Tony Award nomination for Best Book and Best Original Score, Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Lyrics). He wrote the lyrics for the Broadway musical “Elf,” which broke several box office records at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. He also wrote the book and lyrics for “Judas & Me” (NYMF Award for Excellence in Lyric Writing), and wrote the book for Disney’s stage version of “Aladdin.” He is the recipient of the Edward Kleban Award for Outstanding Lyric Writing, the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Musical Theater Award, and the ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award.

Director Mark Lamos, who also serves as Westport Country Playhouse artistic director, has helmed Playhouse productions of “Into the Woods”; “Twelfth Night”; “Lips Together, Teeth Apart”; “Happy Days”; “She Loves Me”; “The Breath of Life”; “That Championship Season”; and “Of Mice and Men.” His extensive New York credits include “Our Country’s Good,” for which he received a Tony Award nomination. A former artistic director at Hartford Stage, he received the 1989 Tony Award for the theater’s body of work.

The design and production team includes Andrew Jackness (Westport Country Playhouse’s “Lips Together, Teeth Apart”; Broadway’s “Bye Bye Birdie,” “The Scarlet Pimpernel,” “The Little Foxes,” “Wings,” “Grownups, “Beyond Therapy”), scenic design; Candice Donnelly (Westport Country Playhouse’s “Into the Woods”; “Lips Together, Teeth Apart”; “She Loves Me”;Broadway’s “Our Country’s Good,” “Fences,” “Hughie,” “Mastergate”), costume design; Japhy Weideman (Westport Country Playhouse’s “Old Wicked Songs,” Off-Broadway’s “Jack Goes Boating” (Drama Desk/Lortel award nominations), “Frankenstein”(Drama Desk Award nomination), lighting design; John Gromada (Westport Country Playhouse’s “Twelfth Night”; “Lips Together, Teeth Apart”; “Beyond Therapy”; “Of Mice and Men”; Broadway’s “The Columnist,” “Clybourne Park,” “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man”),sound design; Tara Rubin Casting; Matthew Melchiorre, production stage manager; and Christine D’Amore, assistant stage manager.

Playing from August 28 – September 15, the performance schedule for “Harbor” is Tuesday at 8 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, Previews, LGBT Night OUT, Opening Night, Thursday TalkBack, Together at the Table Family Dinner, Playhouse Young Professionals, and Backstage Pass. A Sunday Symposium with the playwright Chad Beguelin will be presented on Sunday, September 2, following the 3 p.m. matinee performance. “Books Worth Talking About,” a pre-show discussion on prevalent themes in “Harbor,” will be presented on Wednesday, August 29, 6:30 p.m. In addition, the Playhouse will offer an open-captioned performance on Sunday, September 9, 3 p.m., for the hearing impaired.

The comedy is recommended for ages 16 and up.

Subscriptions to the remaining two productions in the 2012 season are currently available (FlexTix). Single ticket prices, starting at $30, are subject to change based on availability. Buy early for the best prices.

“Harbor” Production Sponsors are Howard J. Aibel, and Barbara and John Streicker; Production Partners are Lindsay Schine and Michael Klingher.

For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse – #WCPHarbor), view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse), or get an insider’s peek on The Playhouse Blog (www.theplayhouseblog.org).

About the Playhouse

Westport Country Playhouse is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit, professional theater under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos and management leadership of Michael Ross. The Playhouse creates five live theater experiences, produced at the highest level, from April through November. Its vital mix of works—dramatic, comedic, occasionally exploratory and unusual—expands the audience’s sense of what theater can be. The depth and scope of its productions display the foremost theatrical literature from the past—recent as well as distant—in addition to musicals and premieres of new plays. During the summer, the Playhouse is home to the Woodward Internship Program, renowned for the training of aspiring theater professionals. Winter at the Playhouse, from November through March, offers events outside of the main season—Family Festivities presentations, Script in Hand play readings and a Holiday Festival. In addition, businesses and organizations are encouraged to rent the handsome facility for their meetings, receptions and fundraisers.

As an historic venue, Westport Country Playhouse has had many different lives leading up to the present. Originally built in 1835 as a tannery manufacturing hatters’ leathers, it became a steam-powered cider mill in 1880, later to be abandoned in the 1920s. Splendidly transformed into a theater in 1931, it initially served as a try-out house for Broadway transfers, evolving into an established stop on the New England straw hat circuit of summer stock theaters through the end of the 20th century. Following a multi-million dollar renovation completed in 2005, the Playhouse became a state-of-the-art producing theater, preserving its original charm and character.

Today, the not-for-profit Westport Country Playhouse serves as a cultural nexus for patrons, artists and students and is a treasured resource for the State of Connecticut. There are no boundaries to the creative thinking for future seasons or the kinds of audiences and excitement for theater that Westport Country Playhouse can build.

Westport Country Playhouse’s five-play 2012 season: “Into the Woods,” a beguiling take on timeless fairy tales, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine, directed by Mark Lamos, May 1 – 26; “The Year of Magical Thinking,” based on the National Book Award Winner by Joan Didion, directed by Nicholas Martin and featuring Maureen Anderman, June 12 – 30; Molière’s “Tartuffe,” a funny and wise farce, translated by Richard Wilbur, directed by David Kennedy, July 17 – August 5; the world premiere of “Harbor,” a comedy about a dysfunctional, loving family, by Chad Beguelin, directed by Mark Lamos, August 28 – September 15; “A Raisin in the Sun,” the timeless classic about a black family in 1950s Southside Chicago and their quest for a piece of the American Dream, by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Phylicia Rashad, October 9 – November 3.

For more information or tickets, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets are available online 24/7 at www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse) or get an insider’s peek on The Playhouse Blog (www.theplayhouseblog.org).

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Patricia Blaufuss

Public Relations Manager

WESTPORT COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE
25 Powers Court
Westport, CT 06880
203.227.5137 ext. 197 (office)
203.221.7482 (fax)
203.227.4177 (box office)
WWW.WESTPORTPLAYHOUSE.ORG