Mike Boland, Jim Bracchitta, Kevin O'Rourke and More Set for Westport Country Playhouse's MISTER ROBERTS Reading, 11/11

Casting is announced for "Mister Roberts," a Script in Hand playreading in observance of Veterans Day, at Westport Country Playhouse, on Monday, November 11, 7 p.m. Tickets are $15.

Actors in the comedic and moving story set in the waning days of World War II are Mike Boland (Broadway's "An Enemy of the People"; Off-Broadway's "The Orphans' Home Cycle"; National Tours of "Twelve Angry Men," "West Side Story") as Dowdy/Shore Patrol Officer; Jim Bracchitta (Westport Country Playhouse's "Room Service"; Broadway's "Gypsy" with Patti LuPone, "House of Blue Leaves") as Insigna; Eric Bryant (Westport Country Playhouse's "Room Service"; New York's "Angels in America"; TheaterWorks Hartford's "Almost, Maine") as Dolan/Military Police; Brian J. Carter (Westport Country Playhouse Script in Hand playreadings "Any Wednesday," "Beau Jest," "Holiday," "Harvey," "Golden Boy"; Off-Broadway's "Wit," "Vigil," "Broken Fences") as Ensign Pulver; Robert Eli (Westport Country Playhouse's "The Show-Off"; Broadway's "Tartuffe"; Long Wharf Theatre and Hartford Stage's "Bell, Book and Candle") as Lindstrom; Ammie Renée Kinsman (The Town Players of New Canaan's "Amadeus," Ridgefield Theatre Barn's "The Unforgettable Whatshisname," Westport Community Theatre's "Mauritius") as Lt. Ann Girard; Chad Kinsman (Westport Country Playhouse's "Children" and Script in Hand playreadings of "Holiday," "The Philadelphia Story") reading stage directions/radio voices, etc.; Michael McCormick (Westport Country Playhouse's "Room Service," "She Loves Me"; Broadway's "Chaplin," "Elf," "Curtains," "The Pajama Game," Sam Mendes' "Gypsy") as The Captain.

Also, Kevin O'Rourke (Broadway's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Spoils of War"; currently appearing as Mayor Edward Bader on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire") as Doc; Sean Patrick Reilly (Westport Country Playhouse's "Of Mice and Men," Script in Hand playreading of "Chapter Two") as Mannion; Jake Robards (Westport Country Playhouse's "The Dining Room," "Our Town," Script in Hand play readings of "Golden Boy," "Dial 'M' for Murder," "The Philadelphia Story") as Wiley, and Mark Shanahan (Westport Country Playhouse's "Around the World in 80 Days," "Tryst," "Sedition," "David Copperfield," "Journey's End," numerous Script in Hand playreadings) as Lt. Roberts.

Winner of the 1948 Tony Award for Best Play, "Mister Roberts" is written by Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan, and directed by Anne Keefe, curator of the Script in Hand playreading series and Playhouse associate artist.

"Mister Roberts" is a rowdy, realistic saga of a group of American sailors aboard the Navy cargo vessel Reluctant in the Pacific towards the end of World War II. The crew is suffering from the deadly boredom that is part of the routine of war. Lieutenant Doug Roberts wants nothing more than to get off this ship into the fighting. His constant letters requesting transfer only serve to further annoy the cantankerous, small-minded Captain who dislikes him already. To win a much-needed liberty for the crew, Roberts makes a bargain with the Captain that turns the crew against him and makes his desire to leave even more urgent.

At the Veterans Day playreading, yellow ribbons will be distributed to audience members as an emblem of veteran remembrance.

Upcoming Script in Hand playreadings will include the heart-felt, romantic comedy, "Crossing Delancey" by Susan Sandler, on December 9, 7 p.m. Others are planned in February and March.

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).

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 October. 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 and Script in Hand play readings. 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 resource for patrons, artists and students and is a treasure 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 upcoming 2014 season: Noël Coward's "A Song at Twilight," an exquisite battle of wits, exploring the nature of passion, the cruelty of love, and the price of hidden secrets, directed by Mark Lamos, April 29 - May 17, 2014, a co-production with Hartford Stage; the season's second production will be either a comedy or a world premiere musical event, to be announced at a later date, directed by Mark Lamos, playing June 10 - 28, 2014;"Nora," Ingmar Bergman's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House," a story of love, blackmail, and the little lies people tell, translated into the English language by Frederick J. Marker and Lisa-Lone Marker, directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, July 15 - August 2, 2014; "Things We Do for Love," Alan Ayckbourn's wickedly funny play that questions just how sane anyone really is when it comes to love, August 19 - September 6, 2014; and "Intimate Apparel" by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, an intricate tapestry of the joys, sorrows, tragedy, and triumph of a gifted but lonely African-American seamstress in early 20th century Manhattan who's negotiating the choice between a love that is accepted and one that is true, October 7 - 25, 2014.

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