Paul Newman to Direct Of Mice and Men at Westport Country Playhouse

Paul Newman will make his debut as a stage director this fall at Westport Country Playhouse with a production of John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The play will run from October 7 to 25, with four extra performances October 30-November 1. Michael Yeargan has signed on to design the sets and Jane Greenwood will design costumes; no casting has been announced for the classic roles of George and Lennie, who wander the country during the Depression, dreaming of a better life.

Details of the rest of the theater's 78th season were also announced by co-artistic directors Joanne Woodward and Anne Keefe. First up is Timothy Busfield Thirtysomething, executive producer of Lipstick Jungle and Helen Stenborg Waiting in the Wings, Wit in the black comedy Vigil by Canadian playwright Morris Panych. The production will run from February 26 through March 15, directed by Stephen DiMenna. Busfield plays Kemp, who has escaped a traumatic childhood only to be forced to care for his dying aunt Stenborg. Vigil is being produced in partnership with Daryl Roth and Angelo Fraboni with an eye toward transferring off-Broadway.

Next up is Alan Ayckbourn's comedy Time of My Life, which reunites much of the team behind last season's hit production of Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking actors Geneva Carr, Cecilia Hart and Paxton Whitehead and director John Tillinger. The show will run from April 1 to 19, with four extra performances April 24-26.

The schedule of four production from May through August includes:

The Pavilion by Craig Wright Six Feet Under, Lost is described as the story of a couple reunited at their 20th high school reunion. Directed by Chad Rabinovitz, the comedy will run May 13-31.

Hot 'n Cole: A Cole Porter Celebration! brings 48 Porter standards to the stage in a revue devised by David Armstrong, Mark Waldrop and Bruce W. Coyle; no director has been named. The show will run June 10-28.

Scramble! by David Wiltze is an office comedy about the incompetent staff of a golf magazine. The play will run July 8-26, directed by Tracey Brigden.

Tryst by Karoline Leach, starring Mark Shanahan and Andrea Maulella, is a mysterious love story first produced off-Broadway in 2006. Joe Brancato, who guided that production to an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for best play, will direct. The play will run August 5-23.