Westport Country Playhouse Presents Sunday Symposium For A FLEA IN HER EAR

Westport Country Playhouse's Sunday Symposium on July 15, following a 3 p.m. performance of the comedy, "A Flea in Her Ear," will feature guest speaker Catherine Sheehy, chair of dramaturgy and dramatic criticism at Yale School of Drama and resident dramaturg at Yale Repertory Theatre. The Playhouse Sunday Symposium program is free and open to the public. Sheehy will engage in a conversation about the play with David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director.

"A Flea in Her Ear" is a bawdy bedroom comedy about a Parisian wife who gets "a flea in her ear" that her husband is having an affair. She turns to her best friend to help gain proof. Together, they compose an anonymous love note to set up a phony rendezvous, instigating a whirlwind of wild accusations, mistaken identities, and ribald misunderstandings. Newly adapted by David Ives from the original by Georges Feydeau, and directed by Mark Lamos, Westport Country Playhouse artistic director, the comedy runs from July 10 - 28, and is a co-production with Delaware's Resident Ensemble Players (REP).

Symposium speaker Catherine Sheehy teaches criticism, comic theory, satire, restoration and 18th-century British comedy, and American comedy on stage and screen at Yale. She is a founding member of New Neighborhood, a theater and television company. She has worked at many theaters including Royal Shakespeare Company, The Public Theater, and O'Neill's National Playwrights Conference. She received her doctorate from Yale School of Drama in 1999 for her dissertation, "If You Care to Blast for It: Excavating the Lost Comic Masterpieces of the American Canon."

The Sunday Symposium Series is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.

The 14-member cast of "A Flea in Her Ear" includes David Beach as Etienne, Deena Burke as Olympia, Hassan El-Amin as Dr. Finache, Lee E. Ernst as Victor Chandebise/Poche, Laura Frye as Eugenie, Michael Gotch as Don Carlos de Histangua, Robert Adelman Hancock as Rugby, Wynn Harmon as Baptiste, Elizabeth Heflin as Raymonde Chandebise, Mic Matarrese as Camille Chandebise, Carine Montbertrand as Antoinette, Stephen Pelinski as Romain Tournel, John Rensenhouse as Ferraillon, and Antoinette Robinson as Lucienne Homenides de Histangua.

"A Flea in Her Ear" Production Sponsor is Czekaj Artistic Productions. Production Partners are Judy and Scott Phares.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.westportplayhouse.org, or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), and on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).

ABOUT Westport Country Playhouse
The mission of Westport Country Playhouse is to enrich, enlighten, and engage the community through the power of professionally produced theater worth talking about and the welcoming experience of the Playhouse campus. The not-for-profit Playhouse provides this experience in multiple ways by offering live theater experiences of the highest quality, under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos; educational and community engagement events to further explore the work on stage; the New Works Circle Initiative, a program dedicated to the discovery, development, and production of new live theatrical works; special performances and programs for students and teachers with extensive curriculum support material; Script in Hand play readings to deepen relationships with audiences and artists; the renowned Woodward Internship Program during the summer months for aspiring theater professionals; Family Festivities presentations to delight young and old alike and to promote reading through live theater; youth performance training through Broadway Method Academy, WCP's resident conservatory program; and the beautiful and historic Playhouse campus open for enjoyment and community events year-round.

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