Michael Gill, Boyd Gaines, Jayne Atkinson & More to Lead Westport Country Playhouse's PACK OF LIES Reading, 3/10

Casting is announced for the Script in Hand playreading of "Pack of Lies," a provocative spy thriller, at Westport Country Playhouse, on Monday, March 10, 7 p.m. Actors, all alumni of previous Playhouse productions, include "House of Cards" stars Jayne Atkinson and Michel Gill, and four-time Tony Award winner Boyd Gaines, as well as Kathleen McNenny, Alexis Molnar, Mark Shanahan, and Zoë Winters. Tickets are $15. Based on a true story, the play is written by Hugh Whitemore and directed by Anne Keefe.

Cast members for "Pack of Lies" are Jayne Atkinson (Westport Country Playhouse's "Triangles for Two," "Our Town," Script in Hand playreading of "Stage Struck"; Tony Award nominee for "Enchanted April," "The Rainmaker"; currently plays Secretary of State on Netflix's "House of Cards") as Barbara; Boyd Gaines (Westport Country Playhouse's "The Good German"; winner of four Tony Awards for "Gypsy," "She Loves Me," "The Heidi Chronicles," "Contact") as Stewart; and Michel Gill (Westport Country Playhouse's Script in Hand playreading of "Stage Struck"; Broadway's "A Man for All Seasons"; currently plays the President of the U.S. on Netflix's "House of Cards") as Bob.

Also, Kathleen McNenny (Westport Country Playhouse's "Beyond Therapy," "The Good German," Script in Hand playreading of "The Golden Age"; Broadway's "Coram Boy," "The Constant Wife," "After the Fall," "A Few Good Men") as Helen; Alexis Molnar (Westport Country Playhouse's "Harbor," for which she won a Connecticut Critics Circle Award; the transfer to Off-Broadway of "Harbor," "Saturday Night Live" video short w/Paul Rudd) as Julie; Mark Shanahan (Westport Country Playhouse's "Around the World in 80 Days," "Tryst, "Sedition," "David Copperfield," "Journey's End," and many Script in Hand playreadings) as Peter; and Zoë Winters (Westport Country Playhouse's "Room Service"; Off-Broadway's "Love and Information," "4000 Miles," "Love Song"; and winner of a Footlight Award for "The Imaginary Invalid") as Thelma. Reading stage directions and the role of Sally is Ammie Renée Kinsman (Westport Country Playhouse's Script in Hand Playreading of "Mister Roberts," The Town Players of New Canaan's "Amadeus," Westport Community Theatre's "Mauritius").

"Pack of Lies" is about a nice, middle-aged British couple asked by Scotland Yard to use their house as an observation station to try and foil a Soviet spy ring operating in the area. They are put to the test with the suggestion that the spies may be their neighbors and best friends.

Playwright Hugh Whitemore's "Pack of Lies," written in 1983, covered events leading up to the arrest of the Krogers, two Americans spying for the Russians, in London in 1961. Whitemore won Emmy Awards for "Concealed Enemies," about the Alger Hiss case, and "The Gathering Storm," about Winston Churchill prior to World War II. He was nominated for an Emmy for his adaption of Bernstein/Woodward's "The Final Days," about President Nixon. He wrote the teleplay, "My House in Umbria" (2003), starring Maggie Smith. His best known work is "Breaking the Code" (1986), about Alan Turing, who was responsible for cracking the German Enigma code during World War II. It was adapted as a television film in 1996.

Director Anne Keefe served as artistic director of Westport Country Playhouse with Joanne Woodward in 2008, and as associate artistic director from 2000-2006, also with Ms. Woodward. She co-directed with Ms. Woodward the Westport Country Playhouse production of "David Copperfield," and directed many Script in Hand playreadings.

Script in Hand sponsors are Marc and Michele Flaster; Script in Hand partners are Ann Sheffer and Bill Scheffler. The series is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

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.

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