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Kathleen McNenny, Frances Sternhagen & Richard Thomas Star in Reading of A.R. Gurney's
The Golden Age
WESTPORT, CT: As a special 80th Anniversary event for Westport Country Playhouse, noted actors Kathleen McNenny, Frances Sternhagen and Richard Thomas will star in a Script in Hand reading of A. R. Gurney's delightfully witty game of cat and mouse, "The Golden Age," on Monday, June 20, 7 p.m. Director is John Tillinger. Tickets to the one-night-only reading are $15. Tickets to the reading and a post-performance reception to meet the cast, playwright and director are $80 ($15 for reading; $65 donation to support the 80th Anniversary Fund).
"The Golden Age" tells of Isabel Hastings Hoyt, once a glittering figure in the literary salons of the '20s, who now is short of money and concerned about her granddaughter, Virginia , a twice-divorced near alcoholic. She would like to see Virginia securely married before she 'kicks the bucket.' Enter Tom, an ambitious young academic. He suspects that Isabel, a confidante of F. Scott Fitzgerald, might have been the model for Daisy in "The Great Gatsby," and that she may possess an unpublished chapter from "Gatsby" which depicts passionate lovemaking between Gatsby and Daisy. He determines to gain access to this literary treasure no matter how devious the means. A series of complex and perilous relationships develop between the three characters as the mystery begins to unfold.
Kathleen McNenny plays Virginia . Her credits at Westport Country Playhouse include "Beyond Therapy" and "The Good German" (Connecticut Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding Actress). Most recently she was in "Equus" at Guild Hall playing the Magistrate opposite Alec Baldwin. Broadway credits include "Coram Boy," "The Constant Wife," "After the Fall" and "A Few Good Men." Off-Broadway, she appeared in "Gates of Gold," "Mind Game," "Comedy of Errors," "Twelfth Night" and "Winter's Tale." Regional appearances include "Twelfth Night" and "As You Like It" at Long Wharf Theatre and "Candida" at Yale Repertory Theatre. Films are "Morning Glory," "Music and Lyrics," "School of Rock " and "It Could Happen to You." She is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Drama.
Frances Sternhagen portrays Isabel. Her credits at Westport Country Playhouse include "On Golden Pond" and "All My Sons." She has received two Tony Awards for her performances in "The Good Doctor" and "The Heiress." She has been nominated five other times for her performances in "Equus," "On Golden Pond," "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," "Angel" and "Morning's at Seven." She is also well-known for her feisty portrayal of the title character in the off-Broadway production of "Driving Miss Daisy." Television credits include "Cheers" (for which she received two Emmy Award nominations), "The Closer," "ER" and "Sex and the City."
Richard Thomas, who plays Tom,appeared in Westport Country Playhouse's "Critic's Choice" and "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" Thomas entered the public's heart starring in the Emmy Award-winning series, "The Waltons." He has continued to star in series, films, plays and over 50 movies for television. Thomas first entered Stephen King territory with his lead role in the miniseries Stephen King's "IT." He revisited this world in the 2006 miniseries "Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King". His other television movie and miniseries credits include "All Quiet on the Western Front," "The Red Badge of Courage," "Johnny Belinda," "Living Proof: The Hank Williams Story," "Hobson's Choice" and "Roots: The Next Generation." On the big screen, Thomas has appeared in such movies as "The Wonder Boys" and the Ang Lee feature "Taking Woodstock." Most recently, he was seen in the Hallmark Channel's film "Time After Time." On stage, he has been called "one of the leading classical actors of his generation," Newsday. His Broadway career began at age seven with 1958's "Sunrise at Campobello," and has continued with such shows as "Fifth of July," "The Seagull," "The Front Page," "Tiny Alice," "Peer Gynt," "Richard II," "Richard III," "Hamlet" and "The Stendhal Syndrome." Recent appearances include Broadway's "Democracy" and "Race," the Public Theater's "Timon of Athens" and the national tour of the acclaimed Broadway revival of "12 Angry Men."
Playwright A. R. ("Pete") Gurney has been writing plays for over 50 years. Westport Country Playhouse has produced many of Gurney's works including "The Dining Room," "The Cocktail Hour," " Far East ," "Ancestral Voices," "The Perfect Party," "What I Did Last Summer," "The Middle Ages," "A Cheever Evening," "Love Letters," "Children" and the world premiere of "The Fourth Wall." 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.
"The Golden Age" will be directed by John Tillinger. He directed Westport Country Playhouse's "How the Other Half Loves," "Children," "Time of My Life," "Relatively Speaking," "The Drawer Boy" and "Sylvia." He directed many Broadway plays including "Night Must Fall" with Matthew Broderick, "The Sunshine Boys" with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, "Inherit the Wind" with Charles Durning and George C. Scott (Tony Award nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award), "The Price" with Eli Wallach (Tony Award nomination) and "Loot!" with Joseph Maher (OCC Award, Tony Award nomination). His Off-Broadway directing work includes "Sylvia" with Sarah Jessica Parker, "After the Fall" with Frank Langella and Dianne Wiest, "The Lisbon Traviata" with Nathan Lane (Lortel Award), "Love Letters" with many stars including Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst (Lortel Award), "The Perfect Party" (OCC Award) and "Entertaining Mr. Sloane" (Drama Desk Award). Regionally, he directed many productions at Long Wharf Theatre, including "Arsenic and Old Lace" with Joanne Woodward and "The Road to Mecca " with Julie Harris.
Artists are subject to change.
Upcoming Script in Hand readings, titles to be announced, are scheduled for Mondays, November 14 and December 12. Tickets are now on sale for all Script in Hand readings.
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), view Playhouse videos on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse) or get an insider's peek on The Playhouse Blog (www.theplayhouseblog.org).
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