mark Shanahan, artistic director
BETH HUISKING, managing director

presents

BY 
Paul Slade Smith

Adapted from Ferenc Molnár’s 
“Play at the Castle”

DIRECTED BY 
Mark Shanahan

THEATRE PEOPLE was originally produced at North Coast Repertory Theatre (David Ellenstein, Artistic Director), Solana Beach, California.

THEATRE PEOPLE is presented by arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, a division of Broadway Licensing Global.

Videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is stricty prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under United States copyright law.

production supporter Cherie Flom Quain	corporate supporter
2025 Programming & Season Sponsor barbara streicker	opening night post-show sponsor

2025 Media Sponsors

(in alphabetical order)

olga   Erin Noel Grennan*

charlotte sanders   Isabel Keating*

arthur sanders   Michael McCormick*

margot bell   Mia Pinero*

victor pratt   Michael McCorry Rose*

oliver adams   Rodolfo Soto*

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association

thEatre people will be performed with one intermission.

This theatre operates under an agreement between the League of Resident Theatres and Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors, and stage managers in the United States.

The director-choreographer is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, Inc., An independent national labor union.

Westport Country Playhouse employs members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 74.

The scenic, costume, lighting, and sound designers in LORT Theatres are represented by United Scenic Artists, Local USA-829 of the IATSE.

Archival recording underwritten by Beth and Bruce Miller.

The Playhouse acknowledges the indigenous peoples and nations of the Paugussett that stewarded the land and waterways of Westport, Connecticut. We honor and respect the enduring relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land.

Paul Slade Smith, Playwright
Paul Slade Smith is a writer and actor based in Brooklyn, New York. As a Connecticut native (and Conn College alum), he was thrilled to have The Outsider presented here at Westport Country Playhouse – and beyond thrilled that his newest play, Theatre People, which received a Script In Hand playreading in 2023, will have its East Coast premiere at the Playhouse in March of 2025. Paul’s three plays have collectively had nearly 500 productions. His first play, Unnecessary Farce, has been produced in Australia, Austria, Canada, Great Britain, Iceland, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland – and translated into French, German, Swiss German and Icelandic. As an actor, Paul was most recently seen as Reverend Crisparkle in Goodspeed’s hugely entertaining production of The Mystery Of Edwin Drood. In New York, he has appeared in the original Broadway casts of Finding Neverland, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory,  and the Lincoln Center revival of My Fair Lady. Following its Broadway run, Paul starred as Willy Wonka in the Australian premiere of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. His TV credits include “The Blacklist,” “The Other Two” and “The Gilded Age.”

Mark Shanahan, Director and Artistic Director
Mark Shanahan was named Westport Country Playhouse incoming artistic director for 2023-24. He assumed the position in February 2024. Since 2018, he has been the curator of the Playhouse’s popular Script In Hand series originated by Anne Keefe.

Shanahan is the writer/director of The New York Times Critics’ Pick A Sherlock Carol (Off-Broadway Alliance nomination, Best New Play 2021), playing two seasons in New York and annually at London’s Marylebone Theatre. He directed his own adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, in partnership with Agatha Christie Ltd. in a World Premiere production at the Alley Theatre. Additionally, he is the author of Merry Little Christmas Carol, See Monsters of the Deep, the Off-Broadway and regional hit comedy The Dingdong, and numerous radio plays as creator of the White Heron Ghost Light series, featuring Christopher Plummer, Judith Ivey, Rhonda Ross, and other notable actors.

Shanahan has directed at stages around the country such as Alley Theatre, George Street Playhouse, Virginia Stage, Arkansas Rep, White Heron, Mile Square Theatre, Hudson Stage, Theatre Squared, Fulton Opera House, Weston Playhouse, Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Florida Rep, Penguin Rep, Merrimack Rep, The Cape Playhouse, and many more. 

James J. Fenton, Set Designer
Off-Broadway/New York: Playwrights Horizons – Regarding the Disappearance of Amy (World Premiere); Public Theater – Southern Comfort, The Musical (World Premiere, GLAAD Award – Best Musical, Jonathan Larson Award); 59E59 – Switzerland (NY Premiere), Fall to Earth (NY Premiere), Small World (NYC Premiere); Third Rail Projects – Momento Mori, Midnight Madness; St. Clements Church – Drop Dead Perfect (World Premiere); Cap22 – When We Met (World Premiere); NYMF – Academia Nuts (2014 Best Musical), Matthew McConaughey vs The Devil; 
InProximity Theatre Co. Promising (World Premiere), Navy Pier (NY Premiere), Maiden’s Prayer (NYC Premiere). Regional Credits: ATC – Pru Payne (World Premiere), MRT - Haunted Life (World Premiere), Christmas at Pemberley (IRNE Nomination), Silent Sky (IRNE Nomination), Abigail/ 1702; CSC-Beckett in Brief (Norton Award-Outstanding Production); Arkansas Rep/T2: Peter and The Starcatcher, Around the World in 80 Days; RMTC - The Devil’s Music; Barrington Stage: Dancing Lessons (World Premiere); Hudson Stage - Constellations, Kunstler (World Premiere); White Heron Theater: The 39 Steps, Dial “M” for Murder. Film/TV: “Before” (Apple+, Paramount TV); “The Dutchman” (Cinemation Pictures); “ERIC” (Netflix), “FBI Most Wanted” (CBS), “The Brides” (CBS), “Hit and Run” (Netflix) “Wizard of Lies” (HBO); “Blindspot” (NBC) “God Friended Me” (CBS), “The Code” (CBS), “Dickinson” (Apple TV). www.jamesjfenton.com

Annie J. Le, Costume Designer
Annie J. Le is a NYC based Costume Designer making her debut with Westport Country Playhouse. Some Costume Design credits include Waitress (Suncoast Broadway Theatre); The Prom Musical (Tantrum Theatre); Super Freak! The Rick James Musical (JJE Productions); A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical (Broadhurst Theatre); Some Associate Costume Design credits include, The Notebook, The Musical (Schoenfeld Theatre); Trading Places (Alliance Theatre); Clyde’s (Helen Hayes Theatre); Wild Goose Dreams (The Public); Squirrels (La Jolla Playhouse); Annie LIVE! (NBC). She has also designed for celebrities, specialty events, and companies such as Amazon and Bloomingdales. She loves everything pink.

Alyssandra Docherty, Lighting Designer
Alyssandra Docherty (she/her) is a two-time Barrymore Award-winning lighting designer based in Philadelphia, PA. After graduating from DeSales University, she continued her training as an apprentice at Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut. She tours internationally with Koresh Dance Company and BalletX having visited stages in Belarus, Mexico, Bermuda, Serbia, Italy, and all across the USA. She returns to Westport Country Playhouse after lighting A Sherlock Carol the past two years. Her designs have recently been seen at Virginia Stage Company, Arden Theatre Company, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Walnut Street Theatre, Hattiloo Theatre, and Florida Repertory Theatre, among others. www.alyssandradocherty.com

Jill BC Du Boff, Sound Designer
Broadway: Left on Tenth, Mother Play, Summer 1976, Derren Brown: Secret, The Heidi Chronicles, Hand to God, Disgraced, Picnic, Wit, Other Desert Cities, Good People, Bill Maher: Victory... Off-Broadway: Lincoln Center, MTC, Atlantic, Vineyard, MCC, Playwrights, The Public, Second Stage, NYTW, Signature, Clubbed Thumb. Podcasts: RadioLab, The New York Radio Hour, many shows for Marvel. Drama Desk, Henry Hewes nominations. Awards; Ruth Morley Design Award, Obie, Lilly. Head of Sound Design at Yale/DGSD. Love to Adam, Milo, and Mabel.

J. Jared Janas, Wig, Hair & Makeup Designer
Select Broadway: John Proctor Is the Villain, Glengarry Glen Ross, Buena Vista Social Club, Our Town, Once Upon a Mattress, Mary Jane, Prayer for the French Republic, Purlie Victorious, Good Night, Oscar, Sweeney Todd…, Ohio State Murders, & Juliet, Kimberly Akimbo, Indecent, Sunset Boulevard, The Visit, The Real Thing, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Motown, Peter and the Starcatcher, Porgy and Bess. Recent Off Broadway: Sally & Tom (Drama Desk Nomination), Yours Unfaithfully (Drama Desk Nomination).

Anissa Felix, Assistant Director
Anissa Felix has performed in several Broadway and TV shows. Her most recent work can be seen in Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest. She’s excited to return to the WCP family as an Assistant Director. And will be making her Directorial debut for WCP’s Script in Hand Series.

Rebecca C. Monroe, Stage Manager
Rebecca C. Monroe has done a play before.

Christine Lemme, Assistant Stage Manager
Christine Lemme has done a show with Mark Shanahan before.

Beth Huisking, Managing Director
After joining the Playhouse in 2005 as marketing associate, Beth was then named associate director of marketing in 2010. After 8 seasons in the marketing department, she moved to the position of General Manger in 2013, and in 2023 was named Managing Director. Prior to the Playhouse, she was former marketing associate with Stamford Center for the Arts, where she began as a summer intern. She was also an event staff supervisor for the Bob Carpenter Center, Newark, DE, where she coordinated over 25 performances per season. A marketing major at the University of Delaware, she was a member of the American Marketing Association and of Gamma Sigma Sigma, the national community service sorority. She recently received a certificate in Human Resources Management from Cornell University.

Associate Set Designer
Justin Lahue

Assistant Costume Designer
Kat Ibasco

Associate Wig, Hair & Makeup Designer
Lily Volle

Assistant Lighting Designer
Alexander Fetchko

Assistant Sound Designer
Joe Krempetz

Technical Director/Head Carpenter/Flyman
Jason Thompson

Assistant Carpenter
Scott A. Trichka

Scenic Artist
Tamar Klausner

Head Sound
Jon Damast

Head Electrician
Dylan Dineen

Head Props
Ryan Neuburger

Head Wardrobe
Lisa Ficco

Dresser
Jessica Camarero

Special thank you to Seth Andrew Bridges