Nicholas Martin, Phylicia Rashad to Direct at Westport Country Playhouse

Nicholas Martin and Phylicia Rashad have been added to the roster of directors for productions at the Westport Country Playhouse in 2012.

Martin will direct the drama, The Year of Magical Thinking, which, as previously announced, will feature Maureen Anderman. The one-woman show is based on the National Book Award-winning memoir by acclaimed author Joan Didion and will run June 12 – June 30.

Rashad will direct Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, to run October 9 – November 3. The play centers on a black family in 1950s Southside Chicago, and their quest for a piece of the American Dream.

Martin’s Broadway credits include Present Laughter, Butley, Match, Hedda Gabler, and You Never Can Tell. In addition, he’s directed The Circle, A Cheever Evening, and The Substance of Fire at the Playhouse. He is also the former artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival and of Boston’s Huntington Theatre Company.

Rashad made her directorial debut at the Seattle Repertory Theatre with August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean, and this past spring, helmed Ebony Repertory Theatre’s production of A Raisin in the Sun. As an actress, she won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Lena Younger in the 2004 Broadway revival of the play, and recreated the role for the television film, earning an Emmy Award nomination. She is perhaps best known for playing Claire Huxtable on The Cosby Show.

The theater’s season will also include Into the Woods (May 1-19), Tartuffe (July 17 – August 4), and Chad Beguelin’s Harbor (August 28 – September 15).

For more information and tickets, click here.