Ivey and Wetherall to Star in HAPPY DAYS at Westport Country Playhouse 7/6-24

Jack Wetherall will join the previously announced Dana Ivey in "Happy Days" by Samuel Beckett, July 6 - 24, as part of the 80th Anniversary Season at Westport Country Playhouse. Directed by Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, the production is the third in The Playhouse's premier season under Lamos' artistic direction. Lamos will speak about Beckett's inspiring play at a Sunday Symposium on Sunday, July 11, following the 3 p.m. matinee performance.

From the Nobel Prize-winning author of "Waiting for Godot," which was recently revived on Broadway to wide acclaim, "Happy Days" is a play of luminous beauty and rare power. Beckett's masterpiece, the story of a woman's cheerful optimism in the face of a trifling universe, is an exhilarating exploration of what it means to be alive.

"'Happy Days' is one of the most powerful and mysterious and profound works of modern times," said Lamos. "It is now fifty-odd years old, yet manages to continually bewitch audiences with its brilliance, strangeness and power.

"Some of the greatest actresses of the last half-century have hungrily embraced the unique challenges, at once comic and tragic, of the role of Winnie, a middle class housewife trapped in a mound of earth while going on with her daily existence as best she can---humorously, yet with a crazy kind of dignity and spirit," noted Lamos.

"The distinguished Broadway actress Dana Ivey will appear in this great role at Westport Country Playhouse," stated Lamos. "She is one of America's finest actresses, and I am thrilled to be collaborating with her on this masterpiece of 20th Century Theater. Few actresses of our day have the scope and depth this amazing role requires."

Dana Ivey appeared at Westport Country Playhouse in A R. Gurney's "A Cheever Evening." On Broadway, she received Tony Award nominations for her roles in "Butley," "The Rivals," "Heartbreak House," "Sunday in the Park with George" and "The Last Night of Ballyhoo," for which she also received a Drama Desk Award. Other Broadway appearances are "Henry IV," "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg," "Present Laughter," "Pack of Lies," "Waiting in the Wings," "The Marriage of Figaro," "Sex and Longing" and "Indiscretions." Off-Broadway, she won Obie Awards for "Quartermaine's Terms," "Mrs. Warren's Profession" and "Driving Miss Daisy," for which she also earned an Outer Critics Circle Award. She has been inducted in the Theatre Hall of Fame. Her film credits include "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," "Sabrina" and "The Color Purple."

Jack Wetherall, who will portray Willie, appeared on Broadway in the title role of "The Elephant Man." On television, he was on "Queer as Folk" for four seasons as Vic. Wetherall won Drama-Logue Awards for his performances in "The Bacchae" and "Man and Superman." His credits include work off-Broadway, at the Stratford Festival Theatre of Canada and regional theater nationwide.

Playwright Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) was born near Dublin where he had the opportunity to watch American films and discover the silent comedies of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, which would crucially influence his interest in the vaudevillian tramp. His first French novel, "Mercier et Camier," written between 1947 and 1950-with its wandering duo, minimalist style, and insistence on repetition-predicts the concerns and form of "Waiting for Godot." Between 1948 and 1949, he wrote "Waiting for Godot." In the 1950s and 1960s, Beckett's playwriting continued with a series of masterpieces, including "Endgame," "Krapp's Last Tape" and "Happy Days." He received the Nobel Prize in 1969.

Director Mark Lamos is a director of plays, musicals and opera. Named Westport Country Playhouse artistic director in early 2009, his first official season of artistic programming is for this year's 80th anniversary. Lamos spent 17 seasons as artistic director of Connecticut's Hartford Stage, for which he accepted the Tony Award in 1989. He made his Broadway directing debut with a transfer from Hartford Stage of "Our Country's Good," for which he received a Tony Award nomination as Best Director.

The production and design team includes John Arnone (Tony Award for The Who's "Tommy"), scenic and costume design; Stephen Strawbridge (Westport Country Playhouse's "How the Other Half Loves"), lighting design; John Gromada (2010 Drama Desk Award for "The Orphans' Home Cycle"), sound design; Kathy Fabian (Broadway's "Fences," "Fela!"), properties coordination; Janet Foster, casting; and Matthew Melchoirre, stage manager.

The board of trustees sponsors are Howard J. Aibel and Barbara and John Samuelson. The 2010 80th Season sponsor is Sun Products Corporation. The 2010 media sponsor is Moffly Media.

Performances will be held Tuesdays at 8 p.m., Wednesdays at 2 and 8 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.

Single tickets range from $35 to $55; opening night tickets, including post-performance reception, are $65. Students and educators are eligible for 50% discounts. Groups of 10 or more save up to 30%. For group sales information call (203) 227-5137, x120.

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 season, 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 with its original charm and character preserved. 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 2010 season will continue with "I Do! I Do!," an endearing musical, with book and lyrics are by Tom Jones and music by Harvey Schmidt, directed by Susan H. Schulman, August 10 through August 28; and "The Diary of Anne Frank," a timeless and powerful classic, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, adapted by Wendy Kesselman, directed by Gerald Freedman, September 28 through October 16.

For more information or ticket purchases, call the box office at (203) 227-4177, or toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Tickets may be purchased online at www.westportplayhouse.org.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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