David Kennedy to Direct Beyond Therapy at Westport Country Playhouse

David Kennedy, Westport Country Playhouse associate artistic director, has been named to direct the 2011 season opening production, "Beyond Therapy" by Christopher Durang, announced Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director. John Rando, previously announced as director, withdrew from the project due to scheduling conflicts.

"While we were sorry to lose John Rando to the exigencies of a date change on another project he's been developing for some time, I could not be happier that we could hand the reins to our gifted Associate Artistic Director David Kennedy," said Lamos. "Since directing last season's hit production of 'Dinner with Friends,' David has gone on to direct an acclaimed revival of Theresa Rebeck's 'The Understudy' in Philadelphia. He has all the right qualities to bring Christopher Durang's brilliant comedy to our stage with insight and panache. Lucky us."

Kennedy, who joined The Playhouse in March 2009, directed "Dinner with Friends" last season. His directing credits include "The Misanthrope," "Glengarry Glen Ross," "I Am My Own Wife," "The Violet Hour" and "Thom Pain (based on nothing)." He previously served as associate artistic director at Dallas Theater Center. He is a founding artistic director of The Lunar Society in Toronto and Milkman Theatre Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was artistic director of The Summer Cabaret in New Haven. Kennedy was the assistant director to John Rando on the Tony-winning musical "Urinetown." He is a former Phil Killian Fellow at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a Drama League Directing Fellow and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

"Beyond Therapy" is a wicked, and wickedly funny, look at the days and nights of the young and single, written by comic master Christopher Durang. After a disastrous first date, Bruce and Prudence seek solace in therapy-despite both their therapists being stark raving mad. And that's only the beginning of their problems. In Durang's topsy-turvy world, life is a ceaseless parade of sexual mix-ups, relationship neurosis and a serious lack of impulse control. The comedy will run April 26 - May 14.

The design team includes Beowulf Boritt, scenic design; Jennifer Caprio, costume design; Jeff Croiter, lighting design; John Gromada, sound design; Buist Bickley, props master; Janet Foster, casting; and Matthew Melchiorre, stage manager.
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. www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to The Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse) and/or follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse).

About The Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse, a not-for-profit theater, serves as a treasured home for the performing arts and is a cultural landmark for Connecticut. Under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos and management direction of Michael Ross, The Playhouse creates quality productions of new and classic plays that enlighten, enrich and engage a diverse community of theater lovers, artists and students. The Playhouse's rich history dates back to 1931, when New York theater producer Lawrence Langner created a Broadway-quality stage within an 1830s tannery. The Playhouse quickly became an established stop on the New England "straw hat circuit" of summer stock theaters. Now celebrating its 80th year, Westport Country Playhouse has produced more than 700 plays, 36 of which later transferred to Broadway, most recently the world premiere of "Thurgood" and a revival of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" with Paul Newman, and in earlier years "Come Back, Little Sheba" with Shirley Booth, "The Trip to Bountiful" with Lillian Gish, and "Butterflies Are Free" with Keir Dullea and Blythe Danner. For its artistic excellence, The Playhouse received a 2005 Governor's Arts Award and a 2000 "Connecticut Treasure" recognition. It was also designated as an Official Project of Save America's Treasures by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is entered on the Connecticut State Register of Historic Places. Following a multi-million dollar renovation completed in 2005, The Playhouse transformed into a year-round, state-of-the-art producing theater, which has preserved its original charm and character. In addition to a full season of theatrical productions, The Playhouse serves as a community resource, presenting educational programming and workshops; a children's theater series; symposiums; music; films; and readings.

Westport Country Playhouse's five-play 2011 season: "Beyond Therapy," a wicked, and wickedly funny, look at the days and nights of the young and single, written by comic master Christopher Durang and directed by David Kennedy, April 26 - May 14; "The Circle," the scintillating comedy of manners, written by W. Somerset Maugham and directed by Nicholas Martin, June 7 - June 25; "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," a perceptive comedy about people struggling against their limitations, written by Terrence McNally and directed by Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, July 12 - July 30; "Suddenly Last Summer," the poetic, sensual and evocative drama, written by Tennessee Williams and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, August 23 - September 10; and "Twelfth Night, or What You Will," the beguiling comedy/romance, written by William Shakespeare and directed by Mark Lamos, October 11 - October 29.

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. www.westportplayhouse.org. Stay connected to The Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse) and/or follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse).

 

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