Photo Flash: First Look at Liv Rooth and More in Westport Country Playhouse's LOOT

Westport Country Playhouse will stage the British farce, "Loot," a wickedly funny send-up of larcenous, lascivious behavior among the English middle classes, written by Joe Orton and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, playing now through August 3. The play won the coveted Evening Standard Award for Best Play in 1967. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Set in mid-1960s London, "Loot" follows the fortunes of two young thieves, Dennis, who works for an undertaker, and Hal, whose Mum has just died. They rob the bank next door to the funeral home and hide the loot in Mum's coffin, displacing Mum whose body keeps re-appearing at the most inopportune times. When Inspector Truscott turns up, the already thickened plot goes topsy-turvy.

The cast include John Horton (Westport Country Playhouse's "The Circle," "Otherwise Engaged"; Broadway's "Anything Goes," "Noises Off," "Amadeus") as McLeavy; David Manis (Broadway's "War Horse," "The Coast of Utopia," "The Rivals," "Henry IV," "Arcadia," "Abe Lincoln in Illinois") as Truscott;Devin Norik (Off-Broadway's "Unnatural Acts," for which he won a Rosemarie Tichler Award; regional theater including "The Lion in Winter") as Hal; William Peden (Westport Country Playhouse's "Tartuffe"; regional theater including "The Great Gatsby" as Tom Buchannan) as Meadows; Liv Rooth (Westport Country Playhouse's "Suddenly Last Summer," Script in Hand playreading "Dial 'M' for Murder"; Broadway's "Venus in Fur," "Born Yesterday," "Is He Dead?"; Off-Broadway's "All in the Timing") as Fay; and Zach Wegner ("Hot Steams" at 45 Bleecker, "God Steeling" at Theatre 54, "The Skin of Our Teeth" at Bristol Riverside) as Dennis.

Playwright Joe Orton (1933-1967) was born in Leicester, England. After winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Orton was the rising star of an "alternative British intelligentsia." He also wrote the plays "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" and "What the Butler Saw."

Director David Kennedy helmed Westport Country Playhouse's "Tartuffe," "Suddenly Last Summer," "Beyond Therapy," and "Dinner with Friends," since joining The Playhouse as associate artistic director in 2009. He previously worked with Dallas Theater Center where he directed "The Misanthrope," "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Moonlight and Magnolias," "I Am My Own Wife," among others. He was 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 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.

The design and production team includes Andrew Boyce (Westport Country Playhouse's "Twelfth Night"; New York and regional Theater Productions) scenic design;Emily Rebholz (Westport Country Playhouse's "Dinner with Friends"; New York's "Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson") costume design; Matthew Richards(Westport Country Playhouse's "Tartuffe," "Suddenly Last Summer," "Dinner with Friends"; Broadway's "Ann") lighting design; Fitz Patton (Westport Country Playhouse's "Tartuffe," "Suddenly Last Summer," "Dinner with Friends"; Broadway's "I'll Eat You Last," with Bette Midler; 2010 Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Awards) sound design and original music; Michael Rossmy, fight director; Dana Tanner-Kennedy, dramaturg; Deborah Hecht, vocal and dialect coach; Carianne Hoff, props master; Matthew Melchiorre, resident stage manager; Ed Herman, assistant stage manager; and Tara Rubin Casting.

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, or by using the new Playhouse App or mobile website. 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).

Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg

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