The White Barn Theatre — the just-over-the-Norwalk-line stage that during its celebrated life used a Westport address — has at least one more act to go.
The owner of the 15-acre property — who hoped to build a 15-home luxury development on the wooded site — has pledged to delay demolition of the historic theater for at least 4 months.
That gives the Lucille Lortel and Waldo Mayo White Barn Foundation time to try to raise $5.2 million to purchase the property. Mayo is the great-grand-nephew of Lortel, the famed actor/producer who founded the avant-garde White Barn theater in 1947. It closed in 2002.
Westporters are following the drama closely. Some want to save a legendary structure. Others are concerned about the environmental and aesthetic impacts of a new housing development on the Westport border.
The White Barn Theatre, in earlier times.