Evening Clouds float through
Tonight’s eastern clouds glowed from the light of the Western sun as it set over the community. WestportLocal.com photo
Good Day for a Good Humor
A vintage Good Humor ice cream truck remained along Soundview Drive as passersby young and younger stopped to peruse the classic collection of frozen treats. The Good Humor company began to deliver ice cream in converted Model T Fords in the late 1920s, according to the Company, and continued to innovate up until they began to use the Ford F-100 series trucks that we can still see today - most popular due to their being sold-off in the 1970s. The Good Humor Man, and in this case: woman - rang their bells on many of the Westport community’s hottest days along the waterfront for decades. Today was no exception. WestportLocal.com photo
Bringing the Board to the Beach: A Classic Compo Scene
A 1960s Ford Galaxie 500 convertible sat atop the sand with a board sticking out from it’s cabin, a timeless scene as many flocked to the shoreline today in whatever vehicle could afford them the most air flow - or in this case - the best headroom. WestportLocal.com photo
Westport Country Playhouse Announces Comedy/Drama “4,000 Miles”, Beginning August 23rd
(L-R): Lea DiMarchi as Bec; Mia Dillon as Vera; David Kennedy, director; and Clay Singer as Leo. Photo contributed by Cynthia AstmannPress Release: Westport Country Playhouse will stage “4000 Miles,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award-winning comedy/drama, written by Amy Herzog and directed by David Kennedy Playhouse associate artistic director, from August 23 – September 4. The four-member cast for “4000 Miles” features Mia Dillon as Vera Joseph with Clay Singer as Leo Joseph-Connell, Lea DiMarchi as Bec, and Phoebe Holden as Amanda.
After completing a cross-country bicycle trip from the west coast, 21-year-old Leo crashes at the Greenwich Village apartment of his feisty 91-year-old grandmother Vera. Although these unlikely roommates are not always in harmony on issues of age, family, love, sex, and politics, they find an emotional connection that gives each a purpose.
“’4000 Miles’ is a profoundly compassionate look at two somewhat lost people and the moments in which they find each other, even across the enormity of a multi-generational divide,” said Kennedy. “And it may be one of the wisest plays I’ve encountered in a long time.”
Mia Dillon, a resident of Fairfield, Connecticut, first appeared onstage at Westport Country Playhouse in the 1979 pre-Broadway tryout of “Once a Catholic” for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Other Broadway credits include “Our Town” (with Paul Newman), “Crimes of the Heart” (Tony Award nomination), “Da,” “Agnes of God,” “The Miser,” “The Corn is Green,” and “Hay Fever.” Other Westport Country Playhouse credits include “Lettice and Lovage,” “A Song at Twilight” (CT Critics Circle Award nomination), “Our Town,” “Return Engagements,” “Angel Street,” and “Speed-the-Plow.” Hartford Stage credits include “Seder” (CT Critics Circle Award nomination), “Engagement Party,” and “Cloud 9” (CT Critics Circle Award). Recent film work includes “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always” and the soon to be released “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.”
Clay Singer spent the past year with the Broadway National Tour of “The Band's Visit.” Credits include “Into the Woods” (Barrington Stage), “Single Rider” (Off-Broadway), and “Twelfth Night” and “Man of La Mancha” at Westport Country Playhouse. Singer is a graduate of Westport’s Staples High School, and an alumnus of Staples Players.
Lea DiMarchi’s select regional theater credits include “Oleanna” (Katonah Classic Stage); “The Miracle Worker” (Judson Theatre); and “As You Like It,” “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and “Into the Woods” (Texas Shakespeare Festival). Film/TV work includes “Hawaii Five-0” (CBS),”FBI” (CBS), and “This Is the Night” (Blumhouse). Born and raised in Honolulu, DiMarchi trained at Carnegie Mellon. leadimarchi.com
Phoebe Holden is a Taiwanese-American actor and writer from Taipei. She received her BFA in acting at NYU Tisch, where she studied at the Experimental Theatre Wing. Selected theater credits include Caroline in “I and You” (Syracuse Stage), Petra in “En Folkenfiende” (NYU Tisch Stageworks), and Claire in “Faculty Portrait” (IRT Theater).
Playwright Amy Herzog’s other plays include “After the Revolution” (Lilly Award), “The Great God Pan,” and “Belleville” (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist; Drama Desk Nomination). Herzog is a recipient of the Whiting Writers Award, Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Helen Merrill Award, Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity, and The New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. She has taught playwriting at Bryn Mawr and Yale, and has an MFA from Yale School of Drama.
Directing “4000 Miles” is David Kennedy who is in his fourteenth season as Playhouse associate artistic director. He has directed Playhouse productions each season, including “The Invisible Hand,” which received the 2016 Connecticut Critics Circle (CCC) Award for Outstanding Production of a Play, and for which Kennedy won the CCC honor for Outstanding Director of a Play. He was previously with Dallas Theater Center, and was founding artistic director of The Lunar Society in Toronto and Milkman Theatre Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The creative team includes Arnulfo Moldanado, scenic design; Maiko Matsuhima, costume design; Carolina Ortiz Herrera, lighting design; Fitz Patton, sound design; Michael Rossmy, intimacy coach; Sean Sanford, props supervisor; Dana Tanner-Kennedy, dramaturg; Tara Rubin, Casting, CSA, Claire Burke, CSA, casting; Shane Schnetzler, production stage manager; Gwen Sewell, assistant stage manager; and Lauren Lambert, production assistant.
Production Sponsor is the Eunice and David Bigelow Foundation. 2022 Season Media Sponsors are Moffly Media and WSHU Public Radio.
Performance schedule is Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. (No Wed. or Sat. matinees during preview week). Special series include Taste of Tuesday (August 23), LGBT Night Out (August 25), Post-Play Dialogues (August 25 and 30), Opening Night (August 27), Sunday Symposium (August 28), Backstage Pass (August 31), Thursday TalkBack (September 1), and Open Captions (September 4). Running time is approximately 100 minutes with no intermission. For the Playhouse’s 2022 season only, plays will be consolidated to a two-week performance schedule instead of the usual three-week run. More info at https://www.westportplayhouse.org/show/4000Miles/.
Single tickets for “4000 Miles” start at $30 during preview performances (August 23 - 26), and beginning August 27 Opening Night, tickets start at $50 and are subject to change based upon availability. Buy early for best prices. For information on special offers, including discounts for students, senior citizens, educators, military and first responders, Indigenous peoples, professional playwrights, and groups, as well as options for pay-what-you-will and Westport Library and Bridgeport Library passes visit www.westportplayhouse.org/visit/box-office/.
All play titles, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.
All audience members must wear a mask while inside Westport Country Playhouse. For updates on Covid-19 health and safety protocols at the Playhouse, visit https://www.westportplayhouse.org/visit/covid19safety/
For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.westportplayhouse.org, or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), and on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).
Marina Monday
A couple with their couple of pups walk down the gangway to Ned Dimes Marina as a fiery sunset continues its journey West from behind the clouds. WestportLocal.com photo
Westport Olympian Julia Marino Honored with Art Piece at Saugatuck Station
Westport Police Department: The Westport Police Department is proud to honor Olympic Silver Medalist and Westport resident Julia Marino. Julia medaled in Women’s Slopestyle Snowboarding at the 2022 Beijing Winter games and the Westport community could not have been more excited.
To recognize Julia’s outstanding accomplishments, local artist Miggs Burroughs created a lenticular art piece featuring Julia which will be on display at the Saugatuck Train Station for the next year. The piece will be unveiled at the Saugatuck Train Station at 10:30 a.m. today.
Join us in once again congratulating Julia and please enjoy Miggs’s beautiful work when you visit the train station.
OMG: Old Mill Grocery and Deli Open for 103rd Season with New Crew at Helm
WestportLocal.com photos. Click to enlarge. The shoreline corner store opened today for its 103rd season under a new, yet familiar name with a team of intrepid neighbors at the helm. The Old Mill Grocery & Deli brings the history of the property back to the forefront of everyone’s minds as its community connections will be propelled into 2022 with renowned food service by The Granola Bar Hospitality Group and ownership that’s dedicated to the community’s future.
From bacon/egg/cheeses to pasta bolognese, the shop will crank out old and new favorites in addition to the stock of snacks, drinks, clothing, and other shoreline sundries seven days each week from 7 AM until 9 PM. From teenagers on bicycles to parents walking in the early morning: OMG&D is back and here to stay with every french fry sold and with every moment spent chatting on its picnic benches.
The new lease on life for 222 Hills Point Road came just as it was at risk of development and demolition for residential housing. Through philanthropy and quick action by neighbors who formed the Soundview Empowerment Alliance, “in a few short months, the team raised nearly $1.3 million dollars from more than 500 donors, secured a mortgage from Fairfield County Bank, and in May of 2022 closed on the purchase of the property.” With a mission to save the property, preserve and evolve the business, and then to support the training and employment of individuals with disabilities - the SEA and TGB Hospitality Group have made the store a community landmark both physically and emotionally for all who cross over its threshold.
The Remarkable Bookcycle hits the Beach
The Remarkable Bookcycle, modeled after Westport’s famous Remarkable Book Shop, allows even the youngest Westporters to have their own memory of a bright pink shop filled with good books as the mobile free library allows all who pass by to donate or grab a book to enjoy. The bookcycle travels around the community to help connect readers with their perfect match, and is now located on Soundview Drive. The Remarkable Book Shop closed it’s Main Street doors in 1994 with an outpouring of love and sadness by the thousands who cherished the store and its owners, both Westport treasures. WestportLocal.com photo
High 90s: High Occupancy at Compo Beach
With temperatures stretching towards one hundred degrees, Compo Beach was packed as hundreds took their chances at sweltering in the sun before jumping into the Sound to cool off. A typical day for Westport as the usual hot sand and sharp rock dancing could be noticed up and down the shoreline as beachgoers through their hands up to the heat and Summer continues for the community. WestportLocal.com photo
Westport’s 11U Heads to States, Continuing Success as a Team
Westport’s 11U Baseball Team won their sectionals this past weekend, continuing their success from last season into this year as they head to Newington this weekend for the State Championships. The team of boys is familiar with the progression - they conquered the State Championships last year. Contributed photo with players Dylan Burdeshaw, Miles Delorier, Henry Ellis, Justin Goldshore, Wyatt Johnson, Christopher Lambert, Chase Landgraf, Jack McGrath, Luke Moneyhon, Torrey Rossetter, Toby Slavin, Grant Theisinger and Nolan Walters, manager Justin Walters, Coaches Marc Theisinger and Jon Ellis.