Staples Student Spends Summer Exploring the Universe
Press Release
Over 39 intense days this summer, Rebecca Schussheim of Westport, a student at Staples High School, operated a research-grade telescope to take images of a near-earth asteroid, then calculated its orbital path, including the chance it will impact Earth in the future. She gained hands-on experience with vector calculus, physics, astronomy, and programming in Python.
Schussheim participated in the Summer Science Program (SSP), joining some of the world’s most promising science students for academic challenge, collaboration, and personal growth. Since 1959, this unique and highly selective program has offered teenagers their first taste of hands-on, authentic experimental research. Years and even decades later, alumni describe it as “the educational experience of a lifetime.” Most go on to earn advanced degrees and leadership roles in their chosen careers.
Schussheim and her colleagues spent over 300 hours collecting and analyzing data in teams of three, overseen by experienced researchers. They also had the opportunity to hear from and interact with prominent guest speakers.
SSP is operated by an independent non-profit, in cooperation with its host campuses: Indiana University Bloomington, New Mexico Tech, Purdue University, University of Colorado Boulder, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and academic affiliates: Caltech, MIT, and Harvey Mudd College. For complete information, visit SummerScience.org.
Westport Country Playhouse Announces Comedy/Drama “4,000 Miles”, Beginning August 23rd
(L-R): Lea DiMarchi as Bec; Mia Dillon as Vera; David Kennedy, director; and Clay Singer as Leo. Photo contributed by Cynthia AstmannPress Release: Westport Country Playhouse will stage “4000 Miles,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Obie Award-winning comedy/drama, written by Amy Herzog and directed by David Kennedy Playhouse associate artistic director, from August 23 – September 4. The four-member cast for “4000 Miles” features Mia Dillon as Vera Joseph with Clay Singer as Leo Joseph-Connell, Lea DiMarchi as Bec, and Phoebe Holden as Amanda.
After completing a cross-country bicycle trip from the west coast, 21-year-old Leo crashes at the Greenwich Village apartment of his feisty 91-year-old grandmother Vera. Although these unlikely roommates are not always in harmony on issues of age, family, love, sex, and politics, they find an emotional connection that gives each a purpose.
“’4000 Miles’ is a profoundly compassionate look at two somewhat lost people and the moments in which they find each other, even across the enormity of a multi-generational divide,” said Kennedy. “And it may be one of the wisest plays I’ve encountered in a long time.”
Mia Dillon, a resident of Fairfield, Connecticut, first appeared onstage at Westport Country Playhouse in the 1979 pre-Broadway tryout of “Once a Catholic” for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Other Broadway credits include “Our Town” (with Paul Newman), “Crimes of the Heart” (Tony Award nomination), “Da,” “Agnes of God,” “The Miser,” “The Corn is Green,” and “Hay Fever.” Other Westport Country Playhouse credits include “Lettice and Lovage,” “A Song at Twilight” (CT Critics Circle Award nomination), “Our Town,” “Return Engagements,” “Angel Street,” and “Speed-the-Plow.” Hartford Stage credits include “Seder” (CT Critics Circle Award nomination), “Engagement Party,” and “Cloud 9” (CT Critics Circle Award). Recent film work includes “Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always” and the soon to be released “Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret.”
Clay Singer spent the past year with the Broadway National Tour of “The Band's Visit.” Credits include “Into the Woods” (Barrington Stage), “Single Rider” (Off-Broadway), and “Twelfth Night” and “Man of La Mancha” at Westport Country Playhouse. Singer is a graduate of Westport’s Staples High School, and an alumnus of Staples Players.
Lea DiMarchi’s select regional theater credits include “Oleanna” (Katonah Classic Stage); “The Miracle Worker” (Judson Theatre); and “As You Like It,” “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and “Into the Woods” (Texas Shakespeare Festival). Film/TV work includes “Hawaii Five-0” (CBS),”FBI” (CBS), and “This Is the Night” (Blumhouse). Born and raised in Honolulu, DiMarchi trained at Carnegie Mellon. leadimarchi.com
Phoebe Holden is a Taiwanese-American actor and writer from Taipei. She received her BFA in acting at NYU Tisch, where she studied at the Experimental Theatre Wing. Selected theater credits include Caroline in “I and You” (Syracuse Stage), Petra in “En Folkenfiende” (NYU Tisch Stageworks), and Claire in “Faculty Portrait” (IRT Theater).
Playwright Amy Herzog’s other plays include “After the Revolution” (Lilly Award), “The Great God Pan,” and “Belleville” (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Finalist; Drama Desk Nomination). Herzog is a recipient of the Whiting Writers Award, Benjamin H. Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Helen Merrill Award, Joan and Joseph Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity, and The New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. She has taught playwriting at Bryn Mawr and Yale, and has an MFA from Yale School of Drama.
Directing “4000 Miles” is David Kennedy who is in his fourteenth season as Playhouse associate artistic director. He has directed Playhouse productions each season, including “The Invisible Hand,” which received the 2016 Connecticut Critics Circle (CCC) Award for Outstanding Production of a Play, and for which Kennedy won the CCC honor for Outstanding Director of a Play. He was previously with Dallas Theater Center, and was founding artistic director of The Lunar Society in Toronto and Milkman Theatre Group in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The creative team includes Arnulfo Moldanado, scenic design; Maiko Matsuhima, costume design; Carolina Ortiz Herrera, lighting design; Fitz Patton, sound design; Michael Rossmy, intimacy coach; Sean Sanford, props supervisor; Dana Tanner-Kennedy, dramaturg; Tara Rubin, Casting, CSA, Claire Burke, CSA, casting; Shane Schnetzler, production stage manager; Gwen Sewell, assistant stage manager; and Lauren Lambert, production assistant.
Production Sponsor is the Eunice and David Bigelow Foundation. 2022 Season Media Sponsors are Moffly Media and WSHU Public Radio.
Performance schedule is Tuesday at 7 p.m., Wednesday at 2 and 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. (No Wed. or Sat. matinees during preview week). Special series include Taste of Tuesday (August 23), LGBT Night Out (August 25), Post-Play Dialogues (August 25 and 30), Opening Night (August 27), Sunday Symposium (August 28), Backstage Pass (August 31), Thursday TalkBack (September 1), and Open Captions (September 4). Running time is approximately 100 minutes with no intermission. For the Playhouse’s 2022 season only, plays will be consolidated to a two-week performance schedule instead of the usual three-week run. More info at https://www.westportplayhouse.org/show/4000Miles/.
Single tickets for “4000 Miles” start at $30 during preview performances (August 23 - 26), and beginning August 27 Opening Night, tickets start at $50 and are subject to change based upon availability. Buy early for best prices. For information on special offers, including discounts for students, senior citizens, educators, military and first responders, Indigenous peoples, professional playwrights, and groups, as well as options for pay-what-you-will and Westport Library and Bridgeport Library passes visit www.westportplayhouse.org/visit/box-office/.
All play titles, artists, dates, and times are subject to change.
All audience members must wear a mask while inside Westport Country Playhouse. For updates on Covid-19 health and safety protocols at the Playhouse, visit https://www.westportplayhouse.org/visit/covid19safety/
For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.westportplayhouse.org, or call the box office at (203) 227-4177, toll-free at 1-888-927-7529, or visit Westport Country Playhouse, 25 Powers Court, off Route 1, Westport. Stay connected to the Playhouse on Facebook (Westport Country Playhouse), follow on Twitter (@WCPlayhouse), and on YouTube (WestportPlayhouse).
Westport Olympian Julia Marino Honored with Art Piece at Saugatuck Station
Westport Police Department: The Westport Police Department is proud to honor Olympic Silver Medalist and Westport resident Julia Marino. Julia medaled in Women’s Slopestyle Snowboarding at the 2022 Beijing Winter games and the Westport community could not have been more excited.
To recognize Julia’s outstanding accomplishments, local artist Miggs Burroughs created a lenticular art piece featuring Julia which will be on display at the Saugatuck Train Station for the next year. The piece will be unveiled at the Saugatuck Train Station at 10:30 a.m. today.
Join us in once again congratulating Julia and please enjoy Miggs’s beautiful work when you visit the train station.
Westport Doctor named Runner-Up for Chris Klug Foundation Award
Press Release
Westporter Dr. Karin Hehenberger. Photo by Nordic Life Science NewsThe Chris Klug Foundation (CKF) would like to announce the winners, and runners-up of their 2022 Bounce Back Give Back Awards. The annual award recognizes two organ transplant recipients who exhibit an outstanding quality of life post-transplant, whether through career accomplishments, participation in sports or hobbies, or simply leading fulfilling lives with their family and loved ones.
“The Bounce Back, Give Back Award inspires transplant recipients across the country and encourages individuals to register as organ donors to save lives” Anna Morgan-Palardy Program and Communications Coordinator at CKF. These individuals have not only shown the determination to bounce back from transplantation but a passion for giving back to the transplant community and helping others through the process.
CKF received 34 nominations representing individuals from 11 states for this year’s award. The CKF board reviews all of these applications deciding on two award winners. These two honorees will enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to Aspen with one guest each for one of our annual celebration of life events. Winners will be honored during the summer Wine and Dine event, an evening of sensational wine, delicious food, and fabulous music in honor of organ donation. The winners will also be honored at our annual Summit For Life in December, where athletes from all over the United States take on Aspen’s 3,267 vertical feet in a race to the top!
Westport, CT, local Dr. Karin Hehenberger was among the three runners-up for this year's award. CKF is honored to acknowledge and celebrate Karin’s dedication to the transplant community across the country.
Just before her 17th birthday Dr. Hehenberger was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D); she continued with her life with this diagnosis becoming an executive with Johnson and Johnson responsible for Metabolic strategy. However, in 2008 her diagnosis caught up with her, and it became apparent that she would need a kidney transplant. So in 2009, Karin’s father donated his kidney to her saving her life! Dr. Hehenberger joined the leadership team of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation after her transplant with two goals in mind. One to improve the quality of life for T1D patients and two to find a cure for T1D. In 2010 her health began to fail again until she received the gift of life through a pancreas transplant from a deceased donor.
Before her transplant, Karin represented Sweden in several European Tennis Competitions. Though her health dashed her dreams of playing professional tennis, she continues to play regularly, ensuring she keeps a happy and healthy post-transplant. Dr. Hehenberger has been in the healthcare industry for over 15 years, working to advance the healthcare system and help support those with chronic illnesses. She is the scientific advisor to the CEO of Helsinn and sits on the boards of the Lighthouse Foundation and the Rolf Luft Diabetes Research Foundation.
Dr. Hehenberger founded Lyfebulb to reduce the burden of chronic disease through the power of the patient. Lyfebulb focuses on three areas, connectivity, education, and innovation, to help patients through the process of chronic disease. Karin and her team recently launched TransplantLyfe, which holds educational seminars and provides a support network for those within the transplant community. Dr. Hehenberger has been a keynote speaker at numerous national and international conferences and events, including being a featured speaker at the annual Nobel Symposium at the Karolinska Institute.
Karin will represent the Chris Klug Foundation as a Patient Ambassador visiting transplant centers, schools, colleges, and more and help further the cause of organ, eye, and tissue donation. CKF is honored to be celebrating Dr. Karin Hehenberger and the other transplant recipients nominated for this award. To learn more about CKF’s 2022 Bounce Back Give Back Award Winners, follow us at @chrisklugfoundation or head to our website www.chrisklugfoundation.org.