The Theatre Arts students of County Prep High School participated in the Manhattan Theatre Club Core Education program of the Broadway Production of “The Country House”. As part of this program, the students participated in workshops with Manhattan Theatre Club resident artist Melissa Murray-Mutch, and other professional actors, in order to prepare and discuss “The Country House.” During the workshops they acted, read, improvised and wrote their own scenes inspired by Donald Margulies’s new play.
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies (Time Stands Still, Sight Unseen) has returned to Broadway with his tenth MTC production, a new comedy about a deeply dramatic family. Tony and Emmy winner Blythe Danner (The Commons of Pensacola, Meet the Parents) stars as Anna Patterson, the matriarch of a brood of famous and longing-to-be-famous creative artists who have gathered at their Berkshires summerhouse during the Williamstown Theatre Festival. But when the weekend takes an unexpected turn, everyone is forced to improvise, inciting a series of simmering jealousies, romantic outbursts and passionate soul-searching.
Considered “one of the MOST SATISFYING NEW AMERICAN PLAYS to reach Broadway in the past decade” by The Wall Street Journal, this witty and compelling new play provides a piercing look at a family of performers coming to terms with the roles they play in each other’s lives. Tony winner Daniel Sullivan (The Columnist, Good People, Time Stands Still) directs.
The play is performed by Blythe Danner, Kate Jennings Grant, Eric Lange, David Rasche, Sarah Steele, and Daniel Sunjata
The students thoroughly enjoyed the play: some considered it “the best play ever”, others found it “riveting and classically amusing,” and all were enthralled by Eric Lange’s performance. Eric played the role of Elliott, Anna’s son who always felt unloved and unappreciated by his mother. The character really took the audience on a journey, bringing forth incredible laughter, as well as the most sincere tears.
According to Ms. Raluca Shields, the Theatre Arts teacher at Country Prep, this was a very enriching experience and the students are looking forward to more collaboration with the Manhattan Theatre Club in the near future.
