Moments before Mark Shanahan made his acting debut at the Westport Country Playhouse, Joanne Woodward told him to put both feet on a special spot backstage.
It was 2005, and the historic theater had just undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation. Several boards from the original 1931 stage had been incorporated into the new one.
Shanahan — a young actor being directed by the legendary star in “David Copperfield” — reverently stood where hundreds of legends, from Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland to Paul Newman and Woodward herself once walked.
Mark Shanahan, as David Copperfield.
Last year, as incoming artistic director, Shanahan watched other actors stand there.
This month, as he takes the reins as artistic director, he looks forward to watching many more do the same.
Part of his job is to attract those actors to the 93-year-old Playhouse. How well he does it — along with the shows he selects, and other programming he develops — will go a long way to determining how successful one of the nation’s premier regional theaters will be, at a time when even the biggest ones face tough times.
Less than a year after the Westport Country Playhouse came within days of closing forever, the future seems bright.
And different.
Mark Shanahan, at the Playhouse. (Photo/Dan Woog)
The decades during which the Playhouse served as the town’s summer entertainment center, a lucrative destination for the biggest names, and a launching pad for Broadway shows, is long gone.
It took Playhouse employees and board members a long time to realize how vastly things have changed. But a firm change of direction — including more diverse offerings, outreach to new audiences, and a shift in the mainstage calendar from summer to other months — has positioned the Playhouse for a new role, a new image, and chances for new success.
Shanahan was both a safe and bold choice. A near 20-year Playhouse veteran — as an actor, curator of its Script in Hand play reading series, and creator of the Westport Country Playhouse Radio Theater — he has also worked at enough other places, in enough diverse roles, to know that doing things the same way they were always done would not work in the post-pandemic, streaming-filled, zillion-option world of today.
The New York City native discovered acting in high school, thanks to an inspirational teacher. (“I had terrible stage fright,” Shanahan confesses.)
He studied theater and American civilization at Brown University, earned a master’s degree at Fordham, then did “a little bit of everything” — acting, directing, producing — around the country.
Noble Shropshire — one of several mentors — recommended him to the Playhouse. He knew it vaguely; when he was younger, his parents took him to plays there.
The Westport Country Playhouse — founded in 1931 — is one of America’s legendary regional theaters.
Shanahan did 2 shows in ’05 — “Journey’s End,” then “Copperfield” — and found it to be a “very warm, welcoming place. Woodward and her co-director Anne Keefe drew him in.
He worked other places. But he never really left.
Shanahan met his wife at the Westport Country Playhouse. He learned he would be a father when he was there. He became friends with countless Playhouse actors: men and women who shared his reverence for the history of the place, and honored all those who came before them.
“My experiences here have been personal,” Shanahan says. “I’ve worked at a lot of big theaters. But there is nothing like this place. It’s an institution, but its importance comes from its people.”
Shanahan has read about founder Lawrence Langner, and longtime executive producer Jim McKenzie. He knows how hard they worked — and the obstacles they faced, trying to create and maintain a summer theater.
The Playhouse’s early days. (Photo/Wells Studio)
Challenges included a depression, a world war, and television. They had to find the right shows and actors (plus costume and set designers, stagehands and musicians, apprentices and ushers); sell tickets; stick to budgets; keep actors and audiences happy — and much, much more.
“It’s hard,” Shanahan notes. “There’s a lot of pressure.
“Audiences are demanding. And they should be. But the people who love this work, work hard to make it happen.”
At the Westport Country Playhouse, they’re working harder than ever. Drastic cost-cutting measures last spring — when bankruptcy seemed near, and closing was a real possibility — included the elimination of more than half of all staff positions.
The small workforce now does more than ever. Shanahan’s “small but mighty” staff is “working their tails off” looking for and creating new programming, finding new sources of funding, marketing it all in new ways.
Early reviews are encouraging.
Recognizing that the theater was dark too many days, Shanahan and his deputies, managing director Beth Huisking and production manager Matthew Melchiorre are booking concerts, readings, films, special events and short runs to draw people in.
And, hopefully, give them reasons to return.
Mark Shanahan and Beth Huisking, in the Playhouse’s famous seats.
In February, 575 teenagers, and preteens and their parents came to a show featuring Taylor Swift songs.
Three nights later, a sellout crowd heard a Script in Hand reading of a show about football coach Vince Lombardi.
Five days after that, multiple Tony Award winner Audra McDonald drew a full house.
Each audience was different. Each night, many attendees said, “I haven’t been here in ages.” Or, “I’ve never been here.”
Other successful shows include an Ella Fitzgerald tribute, and 9 performances of Shanahan’s “A Sherlock Carol.”
“This theater can be anything, for anyone,” Shanahan says. “We just have to figure out what that can be. And who knows what it can be, unless we try?”
Mark Shanahan plans to use the Lucille Lortel Barn, adjacent to the main theater, for innovative, intimate programs. (Photo/Dan Woog)
The artistic director says proudly, “I’m meeting people on the porch whose grandparents brought them to the Playhouse, and people who have never been here before.
“That mix keeps me up at night. I’m thinking about what we can show them, and how we can give them a good reason to come back.
“I know we can’t please everybody. But there is a large audience that’s hungry to come together.
“Theaters are closing for many reasons. This is the last un-downloadable thing they can do. And they can do it with other people. It’s even more special than when I was a kid.
“We have a great board at the Playhouse. There are new, young people, and others on it a long time who are really energized. All of us are committed to giving people a great night out.”
And to ensuring that backstage, every actor — well known now, or will be in the future — has a chance to put their feet on the boards from that original 1931 stage, close their eyes, and think about everyone who also stood on the same stage.
And then walk out, and keep the magic of the Westport Country Playhouse alive for generations to come.
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