Westport Country Playhouse Presents Virtual Symposium For TINY HOUSE

Westport Country Playhouse will present a virtual Symposium in conjunction with the on-demand staging of the timely new comedy, "Tiny House." The Symposium will be on the Playhouse's website, westportplayhouse.org, from Wednesday, June 30 through Sunday, July 18.

Michael Gotch, playwright, will engage in conversation with host David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, about the play's themes of utopia and apocalypse, political polarization, downsizing, escaping urban life, and fresh starts, as well as the challenges of producing a play virtually. The Symposium is free-of-charge; running time is approximately 45 minutes.

"Michael is so wonderfully articulate about his work, methods, and influences that speaking with him is both delightful and educational," said David Kennedy. "You could spend the entire afternoon in dialogue, and continue to receive fresh insights into his extraordinary play. It promises to be a great conversation."

In "Tiny House," fireworks fly when family, friends, and quirky neighbors come together for a Fourth of July barbecue at the off-the-grid, isolated mountain paradise of a young, urban couple. "Tiny House," directed by Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director, will stream on demand from Tuesday, June 29 through Sunday, July 18. A one-night-only, in-person screening in the Jason Robards Theatre at the Playhouse will take place on Tuesday, June 29, at 7 p.m.

Playwright Michael Gotch's "Tiny House" is his first full-length play. It was a semifinalist at Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference (2018), Ashland New Plays Festival (2018), and Forward Flux Three New American Plays (2018). "Tiny House" premiered in 2019 with Delaware's Resident Ensemble Players (REP), a professional theater located at the University of Delaware, under the former title, "Minor Fantastical Kingdoms," following a New Works Initiative workshop in 2018 at Westport Country Playhouse. Gotch's second full-length play, "Starter Pistol," was workshopped at Westport Country Playhouse and had its world premiere at The REP under the direction of Mark Lamos in 2020. It was the winner of the Ashland New Plays Festival (2019), and a semifinalist in two other competitions. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Gotch has written and directed a radio play adaptation of Bram Stoker's "Dracula," and a duet of Agatha Christie short story radio play adaptations, "The King of Clubs" and "The Cornish Mystery," both currently streaming via The REP's website, www.rep.udel.edu. Also an actor, Gotch has performed at leading theaters in New York and regionally, including Westport Country Playhouse/REP's co-production of "A Flea in Her Ear," as well as over 70 productions as a founding company member at The REP, University of Delaware, where he also teaches in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Host David Kennedy is in his thirteenth season as Playhouse associate artistic director. He has directed Playhouse productions each season, including "Suddenly Last Summer," "Loot," and "The Invisible Hand," which received the 2016 Connecticut Critics Circle (CCC) Award for Outstanding Production of a Play, and for which Kennedy won the CCC honor for Outstanding Director of a Play. He was previously with Dallas Theater Center, and was founding artistic director of The Lunar Society in Toronto and Milkman Theatre Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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

Other special events surrounding the production of "Tiny House" will include an LGBT Night Out cocktail party on Tuesday, June 29; and an interactive, virtual talkback with panelists on Monday, July 12.

"Tiny House" running time is approximately 100 minutes, including a brief intermission between the two acts. Appropriate for ages 14 and up. More information on "Tiny House" at: westportplayhouse.org/tinyhouse.

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