Block Party @The Westport Playhouse: Food Trucks, Shake Shack, Beer & More..

CTbites Team April 06, 2013

Westport Country Playhouse will host a “2013 Season Kick-off Block Party,” on Saturday, April 13, 4 to 7 p.m., offering a fun, party-like atmosphere with food trucks, special ticket offers, and a look at the Playhouse’s “backstage experience.” Admission is free and open to the public.

Three local food trucks, Skinny Pines Pizza, LobsterCRAFT, and Christophe’s Crepes, will be on site with their specialties available for purchase. Beaver Beer will provide a free tasting of their brews, and Shake Shack will offer complimentary custard.

“To celebrate our 2013 Season, we’re throwing open the doors to the theater and offering self-guided tours, special insight into this year’s five productions, and fun games and activities for adults and kids alike,” said Jennifer McCool, Playhouse community engagement coordinator. “Come party with the Playhouse!”

Special box office promotions will include a savings of $10 off single tickets to any of the 2013 season’s five productions. Also, subscriptions to any 2013 Season 5-Play matinee performances will be $100. The discounts will be for one-day-only, Saturday, April 13, in-person purchases. Ticket discounts are not valid on previously purchased tickets and are subject to availability.

Westport Country Playhouse’s five-play 2013 season features A.R. Gurney’s “The Dining Room,” a witty and heartfelt story of the American family and its vanishing traditions set in the most singular of rooms, where people gather, meals are eaten, conversations begin, and generations converge, directed by Mark Lamos, April 30 – May 18; “The Show-Off” by George Kelly, a funny, surprising, and moving story of a family in upheaval when their youngest daughter becomes engaged to a brash loudmouth, directed by Nicholas Martin, June 11 – 29; “Loot,” a wickedly funny send-up of larcenous, lascivious behavior among the English middle classes by the master of British farce Joe Orton, directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, July 16 – August 3; the second world premiere in as many seasons, “Oblivion” a touching and funny—and very modern—tale of parents, children, and the gulf that sometimes exists between them, commissioned by Playwrights Horizons and developed by Steppenwolf Theatre Company, written by Carly Mensch, a writer for Showtime's "Weeds," and directed by Mark Brokaw, August 20 – September 7; and John Murray and Allen Boretz’s “Room Service,” a madcap American farce about a producer and his ragtag bunch of actors who try to raise money for a Broadway show as they scramble to evade their hotel bill, directed by Mark Lamos, October 8 – 26.

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).

About Westport Country Playhouse

Westport Country Playhouse is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit, professional theater under the artistic direction of Mark Lamos and management leadership of Michael Ross. The Playhouse creates five live theater experiences, produced at the highest level, from April through November. Its vital mix of works---dramatic, comedic, occasionally exploratory and unusual---expands the audience’s sense of what theater can be. The depth and scope of its productions display the foremost theatrical literature from the past---recent as well as distant---in addition to musicals and premieres of new plays. During the summer, the Playhouse is home to the Woodward Internship Program, renowned for the training of aspiring theater professionals. Winter at the Playhouse, from November through March, offers events outside of the main season---Family Festivities presentations and Script in Hand play readings. In addition, businesses and organizations are encouraged to rent the handsome facility for their meetings, receptions and fundraisers.

As an historic venue, Westport Country Playhouse has had many different lives leading up to the present. Originally built in 1835 as a tannery manufacturing hatters’ leathers, it became a steam-powered cider mill in 1880, later to be abandoned in the 1920s. Splendidly transformed into a theater in 1931, it initially served as a try-out house for Broadway transfers, evolving into an established stop on the New England straw hat circuit of summer stock theaters through the end of the 20^th century. Following a multi-million dollar renovation completed in 2005, the Playhouse became a state-of-the-art producing theater, preserving its original charm and character.

Today, the not-for-profit Westport Country Playhouse serves as a cultural nexus for patrons, artists and students and is a treasured resource for the State of Connecticut. There are no boundaries to the creative thinking for future seasons or the kinds of audiences and excitement for theater that Westport Country Playhouse can build.

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