Westport Playhouse announces 2023 season that will balance mainstream entertainment with provocative drama - Hartford Courant

Having endured more than its share of changes and cancellations in the past few COVID-plagued years, the Westport Country Playhouse has announced a season for 2023, hoping to finally bring the years-postponed show to life. . It also builds on several creative programming choices the theater has made in recent years, with many challenging and progressive productions planned.

This season includes a rewrite of the thriller “Dial M for Murder,” which was a play before it was Alfred Hitchcock’s film, and the provocative comedy “School Girls.” Or African Mean Girls Play.

Two other shows for the next season, ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ and ‘Antigone’, were originally announced as part of Westport’s 2020 season. ‘Ain’t Misbehavin” was also announced as part of his current 2022 season, but has been postponed again. A musical revue based on the “Fats” Waller song was originally slated to be directed and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, but will be directed and choreographed by Jeffrey L. Page, a revival of his production on the Burlington Stage in June. It will be staged. Berkshire company. The same performance will take place at the Geba Theater in Rochester, New York in January. The Westport Playhouse runs from his April 11th to 29th.

“Antigone” is a new version of Sophocles’ tragedy of 441 BC, adapted by Kenneth Cavender for translations of many classic plays, including the 1980 multiplayer epic “The Greeks.” ‘Antigone’ will be directed by Westport Playhouse Associate Associate Director David Kennedy and will run from August 29, 2023 until he runs through September 16. It’s especially resonating given the current political focus on women’s issues.

Mark Lamos, artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse since 2009 and artistic director of the Hartford Stage from 1980 to 1997, will be the reworking of “Dial M for Murder,” which runs May 30-June 17. supervised by Geoffrey Hatcher is a popular playwright (‘Three Viewings’, ‘Scotland Road’) and a prolific adaptor of old plays and literary works (‘The Killing of Sister George’, etc.) . “Tuesdays with Molly” and “Turn of the Screw”.

“Schoolgirls; The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh, which runs from October 24 to November 11, 2023, is a biting social satire that hit Off-Broadway in 2018. It touches on issues of racism, beauty ideals, and world domination in Ghana, a potential contestant.

The fifth performance of the 2023 Westport Playhouse season, which runs July 11-29, has yet to be announced.

This year, the Playhouse will stage ‘Next to Normal,’ the esteemed musical about clinical depression, tackling a production whose multi-racial cast was largely the domain of white performers playing suburban folk. I got (Carol Rosegg)

Unlike most of the state’s major regional theaters, which operate on a fall-spring schedule, the Westport Playhouse was a summer theater from the 1930s to the 1980s, refurbished in the ’90s, and opens in the fall and winter months — Follow calendar year schedule. The theater’s entire 2020 season has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, a torrential rain hit the theater basement during a concert performance. The 2021 season had already been modified to be mostly virtual due to COVID. This included an online version of the new play “Tiny House,” which was originally slated to be performed live. By the end of that season, however, theaters were able to stage “Doubt” live instead of virtual, as originally announced.

This year’s adjustment was to shorten the run time for each show during the season from the traditional three weeks to just two weeks.

For the 2023 season, plays will return to a three-week run, but the Westport Playhouse will continue to do so by starting more nightly performances at 7:00pm instead of 7:30pm or 8:00pm. Still adjusting to the needs of the audience.

[ Theater review: ‘Kim’s Convenience’ a smart, compelling choice by Westport Playhouse ]

This year, the Westport Country Playhouse released the confrontational comedy Straight White, which openly and constructively mocked the demographics that make up much of its theater audience and tested patrons’ acceptance of loud, profane female raps. made some bold and striking programming choices, including “Men”. music.

The Playhouse also staged the esteemed musical “Next to Normal,” about clinical depression, with a multiracial cast working on a production with predominantly white performers playing suburban people. rice field.

The theater also staged the original stage play that the sitcom Kim’s Convenience was based on, exposing the raw cracks in Canadian culture with its protagonist’s racist rants. (Carol Rosegg)

The theater also staged the original stage play that the sitcom Kim’s Convenience was based on, exposing the raw cracks in Canadian culture with its protagonist’s racist rants. Amy Herzog’s “4,000 Miles,” about family bonding and isolation, wrapped up last weekend after a timely return. The final show of the current season at the Westport Country Playhouse is the civil rights story From the Mississippi Delta. This is Endesia’s “dramatic biography” by Ida May Holland, first staged in the late 1980s and expanded into a memoir ten years later.

A well-balanced album featuring established mainstream hits ‘Dial M for Murder’ and ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’, as well as challenging productions like ‘School Girls; School Girls’ from a new perspective. The long-awaited season. Or “The African Mean Girls Play” and “Antigone” continues the steady emergence of Westport his playhouse from a very difficult time for theaters in all regions.

The Playhouse is offering current subscribers who renew by September 23rd a “Guest Pass,” one complimentary ticket to all productions for the 2023 season. It will be open to the public next year. westportplayhouse.org.

Contact Christopher Arnott at: carnott@courant.com.