Tony Award nominee Edward Herrmann and Broadway actress Helen Cespedes will be in Westport Country Playhouse’s Script in Hand playreading of the humorous and stirring historically based drama, ”Trying” by Joanna McClelland Glass, on Monday, November 10, at 7 p.m. Director is Anne Keefe, Playhouse associate artist and curator of the playreading series. Tickets are $15.
Edward Herrmann will portray Francis Biddle, a former Attorney General under President Franklin Roosevelt, and the former Chief Judge of the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Herrmann appeared in Westport Country Playhouse’s “A Holiday Garland,” and Script in Hand playreadings of “Morning’s at Seven” and “A Song at Twilight.” His Broadway credits include Tony Award nominations for “Love Letters,” “Plenty,” and “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” Television includes the recurring role of Lionel Deerfield on “The Good Wife,” and an Emmy Award nomination for his role as Franklin D. Roosevelt in “Eleanor and Franklin” with Jane Alexander. Most recently, Herrmann voiced the role of FDR in the Ken Burns documentary series, “The Roosevelts.”
Helen Cespedes will play Sarah Schorr, a young Canadian woman who is hired by Biddle to help him write his memoirs. On Broadway, Cespedes appeared in “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” and Off-Broadway in “A Picture of Autumn.” Her regional credits include “The Importance of Being Earnest,” directed by David Hyde Pierce and starring Tyne Daly at Williamstown Theatre Festival. Film work includes “The Way I Remember It,” starring Christine Ebersole. She trained at The Juilliard School.
Based on playwright Joanna McClelland Glass’ own experience during 1967-68, the story tells of the two characters ‘trying’ to understand each other in what Biddle knows is his final year of life. “Trying” was first presented in Chicago in 2004, winning Chicago's Jefferson Award for Best New Play. “Trying” was then produced in New York in 2004-2005. Glass has recently completed a screenplay of “Trying.”
Glass was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Her plays have been produced in many North American regional theaters, as well as in England, Ireland, Australia, and Germany. “To Grandmother’s House We Go,” starring Eva Le Gallienne, was produced at Westport Country Playhouse in 1981, following an earlier Broadway run.
Director Anne Keefe served as artistic director of Westport Country Playhouse with Joanne Woodward in 2008, and as associate artistic director from 2000-2006, also with Ms. Woodward. She co-directed with Ms. Woodward the Westport Country Playhouse production of “David Copperfield,” and directed many Script in Hand playreadings.
Script in Hand sponsors are Marc and Michele Flaster; Script in Hand partners are Ann Sheffer and Bill Scheffler. Script in Hand corporate sponsor is People’s United Bank Wealth Management. The series is supported, in part, by the White Barn Program of the Lucille Lortel Foundation.
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), or view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).