Manhattan Theatre Club’s big, exciting fall play The Country House stars Tony and Emmy winner Blythe Danner as the matriarch of a very artistic family (all of them famous or aspiring performers) who gather together at their Berkshires summer home to commemorate the first anniversary of her daughter’s death. Written by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies (Dinner with Friends, Time Stands Still, Collected Stories), the show promises a generous mix of laughter and tears. When BroadwayBox caught up with the cast, we asked each of them, what are your three must-haves for a weekend in the country with your family?
Blythe Danner (Anna Patterson)
“A good book; well, I travel with my grandchildren, so the silliest games I can think of—things that have nothing to do with the computer because I think that’s one of the scourges of modern life; and some macrobiotic cookies that I make. My husband used to joke they are like biting into The New York Times, but they are very good and healthy and everybody likes them, and they are great to munch on the highway.”
Daniel Sunjata (Michael Astor)
“I actually have not taken a family vacation in quite some time; like once I went away to college, my family stopped doing the whole family goes on vacation together, so back then it would have been my favorite pair of swim trunks and a book.”
Kate Jennings Grant (Nell McNally)
“Meatballs—my mother makes meatballs and she lures us up to the house with the most incredible meatballs you’ve ever had in your life, so it’s a trick but it works because they are amazing; I need my train ticket back to New York just to have it—just to know; and a phone and charger in case I get a fabulous job.”
Eric Lange (Elliot Cooper)
“My camera—I have a little hobby of photography and I drive my wife crazy because I’m filming all the time and taking pictures, but then she ends up loving them so…We’d also have to bring technology sadly so iPhone and charger ,and it’s sad because you want to unhook but we have a hard time; and the third thing would be a good bottle of wine.”
Sarah Steele (Susie Keegan)
“A book, a camera because I love taking photos of my family and my birth control because I have to bring it everywhere.”
David Rasche (Walter Keegan)
“The dog, a guitar and my iPhone.”
Donald Margulies (Playwright)
“Good biking, good wine certainly and a well-stocked Kindle.”
‘The Country House’ begins performances at Broadway’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on September 9.
