WCT History

AWARDS
Lila Wallace Foundation Grant Recipient for two years.
Awarded “Best Community Theatre in Fairfield County” by the subscribers of Fairfield County Weekly. And where are we now? Remember the old Bedford Elementary where we began? It was turned into the Westport Town Hall, and we turned the downstairs into a real theatre in 1978. We’ve been there ever since, and look forward to our 54th season as one of Fairfield County’s most critically acclaimed local theatres, located right off Main Street in the heart of Westport.

HISTORY

The Westport Community Theatre has been a part of the community of Weston and Westport since 1956 when we were known as the Westport Players and gave our very first show The Happy Time at the Bedford Elementary School.

For a long time we had no real home of our own. We played in a little theatre on Kings Highway, at Westport High now called Staples, the Grange in Weston, at Weston High and Fairfield University. Our audiences even followed us to the White Barn Theatre and the Westport Country Playhouse.

Over the years we have trained any number of performers and directors, lighting, sound, set design and technically-inclined members. Westport Community Theatre is proud of its multi-generational membership that has stayed connected and grown throughout the years.

CURRENTLY

  • A Sound Local Subscriber Base.
  • Five Mainstage Productions.
  • Year Round ETC (Experimental Theatre Company) Productions.
  • A training ground for new directors, actors, and playwrights.
  • Workshops – Voice Production, Costume, Lighting, Properties, Make-up & Scenic Design.
  • Participation at the Levitt Pavilion.
  • Participation in Westport’s First Night since its inception.

We feel that we have, over the past few years, provided not only good theatre to the area, but a great deal to the community in the form of the benefits we have produced which include among others:

  • Save the Children Tsunami Relief ($2,300)
  • L’Ambiance Plaza disaster ($15,000)
  • Hole in the Wall Gang Camp ($14,000)
  • Our production of Alice taken to the Camp
  • Westport Country Playhouse ($3,200)
  • Staples H.S. Theatre
  • Nature Center: Bread & Roses for victims of AIDS
  • Bridge House: Westport EMS
  • Hospice: Project Return
  • Children’s Connection Red Cross
  • American Association of University Women at the Westport Country Playhouse