Westport Country Playhouse will kick off its 2026 Script in Hand playreading season with a new comedy starring two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey.
Ivey will appear in a Script in Hand reading of “The Pancake Club” on Monday, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. The play is written by Charlotte Booker and directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Shanahan.
“I’m excited to begin a new year and a new season of Script in Hand readings with a brand-new comedy that’s funny, generous, touching, and full of heart,” Shanahan said. “With an exceptional cast led by two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey, this reading feels like exactly the right way to start a new year at the Playhouse.”
Ivey plays Brenda, a waitress at a small-town diner where a group of senior men who call themselves The Pancake Club gather regularly. As Brenda navigates the sudden death of her oldest friend, tensions rise among the Club members over a eulogy, a widow refuses to grieve, a mysterious stranger unsettles the town, and Brenda’s daughter teeters on the edge of a breakdown — forcing Brenda to confront whether anyone ever truly grows up.
Playwright Charlotte Booker said she is thrilled to have the work presented at Westport Country Playhouse.
“I am beyond delighted for my play ‘The Pancake Club’ to be part of the Script in Hand series at a theatre I’ve so long admired, and especially excited to hear Judith Ivey read Brenda,” Booker said. “I set out to create fun roles for actors ‘of an age’ — and Judith is, without a doubt, the very best.”
Ivey is a four-time Tony Award nominee and two-time winner, with additional honors including Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Obie, and Emmy nominations. Her film credits include “Women Talking,” and her television work includes “Designing Women,” “Nurse Jackie,” “Law & Order: SVU,” and “Sweet Magnolias.” She last appeared at Westport Country Playhouse in 2018 in a New Works reading and an International Women’s Day event.
Additional cast members will be announced.
Tickets are $35. The reading includes two acts with one intermission. For details, visit westportplayhouse.org.