Square One Theatre's 25th Anniversary Production of A WALK IN THE WOODS to Open Today

The Square One Theatre Company in Stratford, Connecticut, opens its 25th Anniversary Season with Lee Blessing's A Walk in the Woods, followed by Stratford Characters, Good People and The Winslow Boy.

A Walk in the Woods, hailed by Time Magazine as "...not only the best of the few dramas to reach Broadway, it is also the funniest comedy," was Square One Theatre's very first production when opened in 1990. In spite of 25 intervening years, Square One Theatre feels not much has changed. "In light of what's still taking place in the world today among the United States, Russia and other countries, we're reviving this still-timely dramatic comedy hailed as 'A brilliant and funny play of ideas concerning the historic conversations between an American negotiator and a Russian diplomat," stated Artistic Director Tom Holehan.

There's an interesting casting twist with this new production of A Walk in the Woods. In 1990, Pat Leo played the young American negotiator opposite the late William Barry, who played the Russian diplomat. For this production, Square One favorite Pat Leo (Monroe) returns to play the role of the Russian Andrey Botvinnik. Joining him will be Damian Long (Norwalk) making his Square One debut as the American negotiator John Honeyman.

A Walk in the Woods opens on Friday, November 7 and continues Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Saturday, November 22 (2014).

An award-winning actor, Pat Leo is the recipient of such Square One Subscriber Awards as Outstanding Actor (QED,Later Life) and most recently as Outstanding Featured Actor for Time Stands Still. In 1990, Mr. Leo was the recipient of ACT/CONN, ACT New England and AACT as Best Actor awards for A Walk in the Woods. Additional Square One credits include Distracted, Ancestral Voices, ART, Rumors, Absent Friends, Camping with Henry & Tom, among others. He holds a BA in Drama (University of Connecticut) and an AS in Sign Language Interpreting (Northwestern Connecticut Community College) and has interpreted such theatre performances as Taming of the Shrew and The Black Dahlia at Yale Repertory Theatre.

Damian Long is making his Square One Theatre debut. His New York theatre credits include The Belle's Stratagem, The Alchemists, Everyman (Prospect Theatre Company), Big River (Gallery Players), The Amphibian Song (Abingdon Theatre). In addition to such National Tours as Hamlet, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, As You Like It (National Shakespeare Company), Julius Caesar (Georgia Mountain Theatre), Reading Rainbow (Theatreworks/USA), Long's regional credits includeYou're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Dandelion Productions), Little Me and Guys and Dolls (The Theater Barn). Area productions include The Glass Menagerie (Westport Community Theatre), Boeing-Boeing, Arcadia, Proof (Town Players of New Canaan), Bye Bye Birdie, Gypsy, The Music Man, Oklahoma!, The King and I (Musicals at Richter), The Importance of Being Earnest and Noises Off (Newtown Town Players). He holds a BA/English with a Certificate in Theatre and Dance (Princeton University) and MA/Humanities (The University of Chicago).

Tom Holehan has directed productions throughout Connecticut and New York including The Normal Heart and A Walk in the Woods, both of which received top honors in numerous state, regional and national theatre festivals. He has directed all 72 productions for Square One since its inception in 1990 and also conceived the ongoing Readers Theatre Showcase series at the Stratford Library. He directed It's A Wonderful Life at Stamford Center for the Arts and is theatre and film critic for Elm City Newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Connecticut Critics Circle and his reviews for Elm Citizen Newspapers are archived on www.ctcritics.org.

Lee Blessing's A Walk in the Woods was introduced by the late Lloyd Richards at the O'Neill Theatre Center's National Playwrights Conference. Mr. Richards then presented the play at the Yale Repertory Theatre, where he was also artistic director. After Des McAnuff expressed interest in directing the play, A Walk in the Woods opened at the LaJolla Playhouse in California. From its first production, the late Lucille Lortel, producer/owner of Westport's White Barn Theatre as well as her own Off-Broadway theatre, decided to produce A Walk in the Woods on not only Broadway, but for two weeks in both Moscow and Leningrad with the Broadway cast.

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