Shakespeare And Stony Point: The Stuff Dreams Were (Not) Made Of

The Westport Country Playhouse recently completed a very successful run of “Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.”

Then, Bruce Miller turned his attention to another mystery.

The Playhouse archivist and cultural associate emailed a painting to “06880.”

Bruce said that Ben Doyle recently brought the artwork, which had belonged to his grandfather, to the Playhouse.

Bruce said “it appears to show the theater by the shore, possibly at Longshore near the marina. Ben thinks his grandfather may have been involved with the early planners at Longshore, and this might have been a concept they were considering.”

Close —  but not quite.

The painting by Peter Dohanos — son of famed illustrator Stevan Dohanos — is actually an artist’s rendition of Stony Point. That’s the land just beyond the high red brick wall on the south side of the Westport train station’s eastbound parking lot. Stony Point is a peninsula bordered by the Saugatuck River, all the way to where it meets Long Island Sound.

Stony Point today (left of the river). The train station and tracks are at top.

Dohanos’ painting says “Westport Country Playhouse.” That’s a mystery, because it was done around the time that Stony Brook property was being considered as the home of a new “American Shakespeare Theatre.”

The idea came from Lawrence Langner. In 1930 — more than 20 years earlier –the Weston resident turned an apple orchard and old tannery into the Westport Country Playhouse.

By the mid-20th century, Stony Point was a shadow of its former elegant self. Decades earlier a New York banker, his wife and 2 daughters lived there, in a handsome Victorian mansion built around 1890. The grounds included an enormous carriage house, gardener’s cottage, barn and hothouse.

After the daughters inherited the home, the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad purchased some of the land for a new train station. (The original one was on the other side of the river.)

The Stony Point wall today. It separates the peninsula from the train station.

The second daughter bequeathed the estate to the Hospital for the  Crippled and Ruptured (whose name was later changed, mercifully, to the New York Hospital for Special Surgery).

But the property fell into disuse. Eventually the hospital sold Stony Point to real estate developers.

Which brings us to Shakespeare.

Around 1950 Langner, Lincoln Kirstein of Lincoln Center and arts patron Joseph Verner Reed had audacious plans. They wanted to build an American Shakespeare Theatre and Academy.

And they wanted it on Stony Point. Proximity to the train station was a major piece of the plan.

The price for all 21 acres: $200,000.

But according to Westport News writer Shirley Land, “the hand of fate and the town fathers combined to defeat the efforts of the theatre people.” Many residents objected.

There were also concerns that it would draw audiences away from the Westport Country Playhouse. (Others argued that a Shakespeare Theatre would enhance the town’s reputation as an arts community.)

The theater was never built here. It opened a few miles away –in the aptly named town of Stratford — in 1955.

It achieved moderate success. But in 1982 the theater ran out of money (and backers). The state of Connecticut took ownership. It closed in 1985. In 2019, it burned to the ground in an early morning fire.

The entrance to Stony Point.

Meanwhile, in 1956 Westporters Leo Nevas and Nat Greenberg, along with Hartford’s Louis Fox, bought the Stony Point property for residential development.

It’s now considered one of the town’s choicest addresses. Homes have been listed there for $14 million.

That’s quite a story. We can only imagine what might have happened had Westporters decided to support — rather than oppose — the American Shakespeare Festival Theater in Westport.

Then again, as a famous playwright once said: “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves.”

ENCORE: Bruce Miller’s email included some interesting connections with the Westport Country Playhouse.

Artist Peter Dohanos’ father Stevan designed WCP program covers for many years.

Peter, meanwhile, was a Playhouse apprentice in 1949. He later became a scenic designer, and worked on “The Swimmer,” the movie filmed in Westport starring Burt Lancaster.

It was directed by Frank Perry, who had been an Playhouse apprentice in 1948. Perry also directed “Mommie Dearest,” about Joan Crawford’s abusive relationship with her daughter Christina. Christina — who wrote the book with the same title — was a Playhouse apprentice in 1957.

Frank Perry (front row, left) during his 1950 Playhouse apprenticeship. It was quite a class. Stephen Sondheim is in the top row, crouching. Also in the photo: Richard Rodgers’ daughter Mary (2nd row, 4th from left).

Ben Doyle (the painting’s owner — remember him?) is on the faculty of Blackrock Theater Company. They’ve performed on the Playhouse stage. He  is engaged to Betsabeth Castro, an actress in the WCP production of “Appropriate.”

And Ann Sheffer — a former Stony Point resident, who provided much of the history of the proposed American Shakespeare Theatre described above — is herself a former Westport Country Playhouse apprentice. She was also a longtime board member.

It’s a small theatrical world indeed. And, as a famous playwright once said, “All the world’s a stage.”