All the World’s a Stage TheatreWorks Opens the A.R. Gurney Comedy “The Fourth Wall” on May 1

NEW MILFORD, CONN. (April 21, 2009) – TheatreWorks New Milford is proud to announce its premiere of THE FOURTH WALL, a “comedy of redecorating” by Roxbury playwright, A.R. Gurney – author of the off-beat comedy hit, “Sylvia.” The show opens May 1, at 8 p.m., for a four-week run.

THE FOURTH WALL takes interior decorating to theatrical and hilarious new heights. Peggy (Beth Bonnabeau, New Milford), an idyllic upper-middle-class housewife who usually possesses exquisite taste, is overcome by a mysterious impulse to redecorate her living room as if it were a stage set. All who enter begin to behave as if they were acting in a play. Unable to cope any further, Peggy’s confused husband Roger (Jonathan Ross, Thomaston) summons an old friend, Julia (LuAnn Leonard, New York City), for comfort — and perhaps a bit more — as well as an aloof theatre professor (Glenn Couture, Ansonia) who Roger hopes can “Doctor” Peggy’s play and bring it to a close, so Roger and Peggy can get on with their so-called “normal” lives.

“The daffiness of the situation is a lot of fun and very entertaining,” said director Sonnie Osborne of New Milford. “And while the play is a farce, it’s also a multi-faceted political metaphor that operates on several levels at once…it’s debonair, thought-provoking, and funny all at once.”

“Gurney uses the stage to explore, quite comically, our place in the world today,” said TheatreWorks president and the show’s producer, Richard Pettibone of New Milford. “The piece boasts a compelling central idea, one that looks at the power of theater and what it means in our lives, and it all springs from a radical act of interior decorating by an unhappy suburbanite. It does what a good comedy should – provide the laughs but also give you something to ponder on the way home.”

The production crew includes Technical Director, Set Designer, and Lighting Designer, Scott Wyshynski (Washington) and Stage Manager, Jacky Saulnier (Danbury).

THE FOURTH WALL opened at the Westport Country Playhouse in 1992. Following the election of George W. Bush, Gurney released this revised version which debuted in 2002 at Primary Stages in New York City.

“Gurney reportedly had two revisions ready depending on who won the election in 2000,” Pettibone said. “With President Bush only recently gone, we felt it would be fun to see how much has and hasn’t changed in only a short while.”

The New Yorker said THE FOURTH WALL is “some damn clever writing…constructed to illuminate the nature of the dramatic form while raising questions about the current state of the theatre in America.”

THE FOURTH WALL runs May 1,2 8,9 15,16,17 22,23. Curtain time is 8:00 p.m. Fridays & Saturdays, with a 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinee on May 17. Tickets for all shows are $20.00 for reserved seating. PLEASE NOTE: THE SATURDAY, MAY 9 PERFORMANCE IS SOLD OUT.

On Thursday, April 30, senior citizens are invited to a free dress rehearsal at 8:00 p.m. Thursday, May 7 at 8:00 p.m. is TheatreWorks’ Pay-What-You-Want night. At this performance, you name the price for your ticket.

Reservations can be made online at WWW.THEATREWORKS.US or by calling the box office at (860) 350-6863.

TheatreWorks is an award-winning, local theatre company located on 5 Brookside Avenue, just off Route 202 (next to the CVS), in New Milford, CT.