White Barn Theatre

The White Barn Theatre was a small theater founded by actress, producer and theater impresario Lucille Lortel on the property of her estate in Norwalk, Connecticut that premiered numerous plays from major playwrights and plays that went on to successful Broadway and Off-Broadway runs.

Lortel founded The theater in 1947 on her convert|18.4|acre|m2|sing=on estate at the corner of Cranbury Road and Newtown Avenue. The estate straddled both Norwalk and Westport, with about convert|15.5|acre|m2 in Norwalk and convert|2.5|acre|m2 in Westport, [http://www.ct.gov/governorrell/cwp/view.asp?Q=306780&A=1761] News release, "Governor Rell Presents $6.8 Million for Open Space Grants in 24 Communities", dated November 17, 2005, from Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell's Web site, accessed April 17, 20067] and the theater was sometimes called an institution in Westport, which has more ties to the theater than Norwalk. Lortel donated much of her memorabilia to the Westport Public Library.

With the theater, created from an old horse barn on the estate, Lortel aimed to present unusual and experimental plays, promote new playwrights, composers, actors, directors and designers, and help established artists develop new directions in ways they might not have been able to do in commercial theater.http://www.lortel.org/LLF_biography/ accessed February 13, 2008]

Plays that started at the 148-seat [ [http://www.wiltonfriends.org/pages/newslet/Arboretum%2006_05.pdf] "The Arboretum" newsletter of the Religious Society of Friends in Wilton, "fifth month", 2006, accessed April 17, 2007] theater (some of which went on to commercial success elsewhere):
* George Wolf and Lawrence Bearson's "Ivory Tower" with Eva Marie Saint (1947);
* Sean O'Casey's "Red Roses for Me" (1948);
* Eugene Ionesco's "The Chairs" (1957);
* Archibald MacLeish's "This Music Crept by Me Upon the Waters" (1959);
* Edward Albee's "Fam and Yam" (1960);
* Samuel Beckett's "Embers" (1960);
* Murray Schisgal's "The Typists" (1961);
* Adrienne Kennedy's "The Owl Answers" (1965);
* Norman Rosten's "Come Slowly Eden" (1966);
* Paul Zindel's "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" (1966);
* Terrence McNally's "Next" (1967);
* Nathan Teitel's "The Initiation with Armand Assante and Lori March" (1969);
* Paul Hunter's "How Do You Live with Love (1975);
* Barbara Wersba's "The Dream Watcher starring Eva Le Gallienne" (1975);
* June Havoc's "Nuts for the Underman" (1977);
* David Allen's "Cheapside", starring Cherry Jones, which Ms. Lortel later co-produced at the Half Moon Theatre in London;
* Douglas Scott's "Mountain" (1988);
* Margaret Sanger's "Unfinished Business", starring Eileen Heckart (1989)

Transfers to Off-Broadway from the White Barn Theatre include:
* Fatima Dike's "Glasshouse",
* Casey Kurtti's "Catholic School Girls",
* Diane Kagan's "Marvelous Grey"
* Hugh Whitemore's "The Best of Friends"

Transfers to Broadway:
* Cy Coleman and A.E. Hotchner's "Welcome to the Club", which premiered at the White Barn under the title "Let 'Em Rot"
* Lanford Wilson's "Redwood Curtain", which was subsequently presented on television as a "Hallmark Hall of Fame Presentation"

Writing in "The New York Times" in connection with a gala event at the theater, Alvin Klein, wrote that the gala August 25, 1996 museum exhibition opening, allied stage performances and reception was "the night of the year [...] memories are made of this!"

At another gala event a year later (August 31, 1997) in celebration of a half century of the theater and Lortel's career as a producer, Klien wrote in the "Times", " [O] ver the years, Ms. Lortel — now in her 90's — has often been quoted as saying she won't take on another White Barn season. After Sunday's celebration she could be overheard inviting two well-known performers to 'put something together and come up to The Barn next summer.'"

The Dublin Players of Ireland performed for several seasons at the White Barn with Milo O'Shea.

On September 26, 1992 the White Barn Theatre Museum was set up by expanding and renovating a former small storage area attached to the theater.

The property after Lortel's death

Lortel bequeathed the property to her theater foundation, which later proposed putting a housing development and possibly a school on the site, something opposed by members of the Save Cranbury Association. [http://www.savecranbury.com/] Home page, "Save Cranbury Association" Web site, accessed April 17, 2007]

In 2005, the state granted $450,000 to the Norwalk Land Conservation Trust Inc. to help preserve the parcel, which contains a pond, open fields, extensive wetlands and woodland. Stony Brook, a Class A stream, runs directly through the property and feeds a nearby aquifer.

The property was sold in 2006 for $4.8 million to 78 Cranberry Road LLC according to Westport Now Magazine.http://www.westportnow.com/index.php?/v2/comments/white_barn_sold_for_48_million/ accessed February 13, 2008]

In 2008 the property was purchased by the Connecticut Friends School in nearby Wilton. The school plans to build an expanded school building campus on the property with occupancy expected in 2009.cite web|url=http://www.ctfriendsschool.org/whitebarn.htm|title=Connecticut Friends School; White Barn Campus Project|accessdate=2008-07-08]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.lortel.org/ Lucille Lortel Foundation]