WESTPORT–Two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey will perform a playreading of a new comedy, “The Pancake Club,” at the Westport Country Playhouse at 7 p.m. Jan. 12 as part of the theater’s Script in Hand series.

The two-act play was written by Charlotte Booker and is being directed by Mark Shanahan, the Playhouse’s artistic director. 

“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,” said Shanahan. “Charlotte Booker, an accomplished actress herself, knows how to write for actors, and ‘The Pancake Club’ is a terrific ensemble piece. 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 of Script In Hand readings at the Playhouse.”

In “The Pancake Club,” Ivey will play Brenda, a waitress in a small-town diner. The title refers to a group of senior men who meet regularly at the eatery. As Brenda struggles with the sudden death of her oldest friend, the Club members squabble over the eulogy, the widow refuses to grieve, a mysterious stranger threatens the town’s equilibrium and Brenda’s only daughter teeters on the brink of a meltdown.

The circumstances force Brenda to face the question: Does anybody ever truly grow up?

“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,” Booker said, adding that she is “especially excited to hear Judith Ivey read Brenda. I set out to create fun roles for actors ‘of an age’ – and Judith is, without a doubt, the very best.”

Ivey has been nominated for four Tony Awards, and won twice, for Best Featured Actress in the plays “Steaming” an “Hurlyburly.” She also has won two Drama Desk awards and was nominated a third time, among other accolades. She has appeared in more than 40 movies, starred in four television series and guest-starred in many more.

Additional cast members for “The Pancake Club” will be announced soon. 

Booker is an actor and playwright whose play, “The Bootheel,” was a semi-finalist at the 2021 O’Neill Playwrights Conference and the Garry Marshall New Works Festival. A monologue from her solo show, “She’s Alive!,” won the Alvin Epstein Solo Performance “Audience Favorite” Award in 2022. 

Tickets are $35. For full details, visit: https://www.westportplayhouse.org/show/january/

In the Script in Hand series, actors perform plays on a bare stage. The 2026 season continues on Mondays at 7 p.m., on Feb. 9, March 2, May 4, June 8, Sept. 14, Oct. 5, and Nov. 30.