Westport Country Playhouse to Stage A. R. Gurney World Premiere in 2015 Season

Westport Country Playhouse will stage as part of its 2015 season the world-premiere comedy, “Love and Money,” written by A. R. “Pete” Gurney, one of the most-produced playwrights in the theater’s history.  Mark Lamos, Playhouse artistic director and frequent director of Gurney’s plays, will helm the production, scheduled for July 21-August 8, 2015.  Lamos made the announcement at the Playhouse’s recent fundraising gala which honored Gurney for his body of work. New York’s Signature Theatre will co-produce the new play, with performances there set for later in August.  Signature Theatre currently features Gurney in its 2014-15 one-year playwright residency program which explores a series of his plays.

“Pete Gurney's writing never fails to amuse and amaze me,” said Lamos. “This prolific playwright, whose plays have entertained Playhouse audiences for decades, always finds new insights and humor by delineating the travails and changes in the lives of that dear, ever-departing tribe: New England WASPs. We're excited to have the chance to work on this new play before it premieres at New York's Signature Theatre immediately following its run at the Playhouse.”

The world-premiere comedy “Love and Money” pointedly explores the trials of class, family, legacy, and race. Wealthy widow Cornelia Cunningham has led a life of grace and privilege—and she’s making up for it as fast as she can. Determined to donate almost everything she owns before the end, Cornelia’s plans are questioned when an ambitious and ingratiating young man, who may be the grandson she never knew she had, arrives to claim his inheritance.

Fourteen productions of Gurney’s plays have been staged at Westport Country Playhouse, including one world premiere.  “Children,” with Sada Thompson in 1980, began the theater’s long string of productions by Gurney, followed by “What I Did Last Summer” in 1982, “The Dining Room” in 1983, “The Middle Ages” in 1984, “The Perfect Party” in 1987, “The Cocktail Hour” in 1990, “The Fourth Wall,” a world premiere, in 1992, “Later Life” in 1994, “A Cheever Evening” in 1995, “Sylvia” in 1996, “Far East” in 1999, “Ancestral Voices” in 2000, “Children” in 2009, and “The Dining Room” in 2013, directed by Lamos, which won him the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of  a Play. 

Gurney’s “The Golden Age” was presented as a Playhouse Script in Hand playreading in 2011. The Playhouse staged a short run of “Love Letters” in 1994, and a “Love Letters” fundraiser in 2000, starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, which kicked off a major campaign to renovate the professional theater founded in 1931.  Another renovation fundraising effort featured Newman, Woodward, Matthew Broderick, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins in Gurney’s “Ancestral Voices” in 2002.  

Gurney, a Connecticut resident, has been writing plays for over 50 years.  In 2012, he won a Drama Desk Award for his body of work.  Gurney is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has honorary degrees from Williams College and Buffalo State University, and taught literature at M.I.T. for many years.

Director Mark Lamos helmed many Gurney productions, including “Big Bill” at Lincoln Center Theater, and “Indian Blood,” “Buffalo Gal,” and “Black Tie”  for New York’s Primary Stages, in addition to “The Dining Room” at the Playhouse. 

Gurney’s “Love and Money” joins the previously announced four plays that comprise Westport Country Playhouse’s 2015 season: “The Liar,” by David Ives, May 5 – 23, an update of Pierre Corneille’s classic comedy, weaving an increasingly intricate web of lies that leads to hilarious romantic misadventures; “And a Nightingale Sang” by C. P. Taylor, June 9 – 27, painting a gently funny and moving portrait of a working-class family in Northern England as the world rushes toward the brink of war in 1939, directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director; Alan Ayckbourn’s “Bedroom Farce,” August 25 – September 12, offering a delightful comedy confection  about the messiness of adult relationships, directed by John Tillinger; and Arthur Miller’s “Broken Glass,” October 6 – 31, 2015, celebrating the playwright’s 100th birthday with his powerful drama about New York Jews suffering from afar as they read accounts of atrocities in Nazi Germany, directed by Mark Lamos. 

2015 subscriptions are now on sale for current and new subscribers, including online purchasing capability 24/7.  Subscribers receive a host of benefits not afforded to single ticket buyers, including up to 40% off single ticket prices, priority seating, free guest ticket voucher, free and easy ticket exchanges, the Playhouse’s monthly e-newsletter, and 20% discounts at selected Westport restaurants. Subscribers will also be invited to a season preview event in the spring with Lamos and other artists.  4-Play and 5-Play subscriptions are available, starting at $120.  2015 Flex Passes are also currently on sale for those seeking to see any combination of shows on varying days and times. Flex Pass holders receive many subscriber-only benefits. Single tickets will go on sale in March. 

For more information, 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), or view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).

 

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Submitted by Westport, CT

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