Books in Heat Wednesday: An American Theatre

(or Summer and Theatre, Part 2)

'>AN AMERICAN THEATRE: The Story of Westport Country Playhouse by Richard Somerset-Ward: Yale University Press

Cities were hot, the country was cooler. This condition before air-conditioning led to summer theatre in America, beginning early in the twentieth century. But the Westport Playhouse in the affluent Connecticut town also began with high artistic purpose.

Though this large format book is liberally illustrated and generously sprinkled with celebrity names, the text is substantial. With this informal, almost conversational history of some 75 years of this unique theatre inevitably says a lot about American theatre in general.

Now under the direction of Joanne Woodward, this theatre's history is replete with famous names, from George Bernard Shaw to Groucho Marx. Readers may absorb insights into the business of theatre, its dependence through changing economics on remarkable individuals (many briefly profiled) and other lovers of theatre, who create shared experiences that include the risk that audiences share with everyone in the production every night.

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