Red – Westport Country Playhouse, Westport, CT, USA

Patrick Andrews (Ken) and Stephen Rowe (Mark Rothko)

For the 2016 season, Westport Country Playhouse’s 86^th season, they wanted to do something different for their opening. This year they opted to open the season with 2 plays in repertory, Art, written by French Playwright Yasmina Reza, and Red, written by Playwright John Logan, performed on alternate nights. We had the opportunity to see the play Art on May 10^th and the play Red on May 11^th, which provided us with an interesting juxtaposition of art as viewed from a collector’s and his friends’ mindset as well as from the artist’s.

Patrick Andrews (Ken)

Director Mark Lamos stated, "We’re trying something new:  two plays in repertory that have never before been programmed together. Producing these two plays in rep connects and intensifies their multi-layered insights on the mysteries of art. I urge our audience to enrich their experience by seeing both. Repertory theater is the idea on which the Playhouse was originally based.  It dates back to Playhouse founder Lawrence Langner’s 1931 inaugural season, when several plays alternated daily throughout the season.  The repertory concept was also part of the Playhouse’s 1932 and 1935 seasons and briefly done in the mid-1960s."

Patrick Andrews (Ken) and Stephen Rowe (Mark Rothko)

Playwright John Logan premiered his play, Red, a fictionalized account of the artist Mark Rothko (1903-1970) and his interaction with his artist assistant Ken, in London and also on Broadway in New York City, winning many accolades along the way including a Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critic Circle, and Drama League awards for the play. 

Red, set in 1958-1959 at Mark Rothko’s Studio in the Bowery section of New York City explores the world of art through the eyes of the artist and his assistant Ken, who is also an artist. As art collectors, we judge and value paintings from what we see, feel, and experience; the play Red, provides the audience with the possibility to explore abstractionist artist Mark Rothko’s life and his paintings from the artist’s point-of-view and the torment and anguish that went into his creative process. It also explores the relationship of the master artist and his apprentice, a young artist who has his own demons to battle, and who looked upon Rothko as an artist, mentor, and a father figure, roles that Rothko clearly was not comfortable assuming.

Stephen Rowe (Mark Rothko)

Both Stephen Rowe and Patrick Andrews had previously performed the play on Broadway and their experience enabled them to deliver memorable and compelling performances as the artist Mark Rothko and his assistant, with the result being theatre as good as it gets. 

Red is a not-to-be-missed play that leaves audiences with perhaps a better understanding and appreciation of art from an artist’s point of view. Bravo!  

Stephen Rowe (Mark Rothko) and Patrick Andrews (Ken)

Red Cast 

The Creative Team

Performance Information: Running time for Red is 90 minutes with no intermission. 

For information on the play or to purchase tickets, please call the box office at 203-227-4177 or call the toll-free number at 888-927-7529, or visit them on the website at www.WestportPlayhouse.org.

The Westport Country Playhouse Box Office is open during Performance Days Tuesday through Friday from 12:00 pm until 8:30 pm, Saturday from 11:00 am until 8:30 pm, Sunday from 11:00 am until 3:30 pm, and is closed on Monday. Non-Performance Days, the Box Office is open Tuesday through Friday from 12:00 pm until 6:00 pm, and is closed on Monday.

The Westport Country Playhouse named as "Theatre Company of the Year" in December 2013 by The Wall Street Journal, opened in the 1930s in a transformed 1835 cow barn, which has, and continues to attract, a "who’s who" of prominent actors. Looking at the framed posters of past shows that line the lobby walls was like entering an encyclopedia of the arts. A few of the many renowned actors who have appeared on the stage there include Ethyl Barrymore, Dorothy and Lillian Gish, Tallulah Bankhead, Gloria Swanson, Don Ameche, Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy, Jane Fonda, Danny Aiello, Blythe Danner, Jill Clayburgh, Richard Dreyfus, Whoopi Goldberg, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Lynn Redgrave, Gene Wilder, and Westport residents Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman.

"Westport Country Playhouse, a not-for-profit theater, 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." 

For information on upcoming events and other performances, please visit the website: www.WestportPlayhouse.org. 

Read about our experience at the play, Art, in the Performances section. 

Upcoming Performances in 2016 – 2017

Westport Country Playhouse  
25 Powers Court
Westport, Connecticut  06880
United States
Box Office:     +1-203-227-4177
Toll-Free:       +1-888-927-7529
Fax:                +1-203-454-3239
Box Office:     +1-203-227-4177
Website:         www.WestportPlayhouse.org 
Facebook:       www.Facebook/WestportCountryPlayhouse

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