By Andy Brophy

Westport residents received a preview of upcoming attractions in the world of art during Westport Journal’s Fall 2026 Culture Preview held Tuesday night in Westport Library’s Trefz Auditorium.

“Five experts on the Connecticut culture scene are sharing with us what they think will be the most outstanding events of the fall cultural season,” Doug Weber, editor and publisher of the Westport Journal, said at the start of the program.

The experts were:

• Mark Shanahan, artistic director at the Westport Country Playhouse;
• Lori Jones, director of programming and operations at Fairfield University’s Quick Center for the Arts;
• Brendan Toller, director of operations and new initiatives at WPKN 89.5 FM;
• Susan Granger, a syndicated movie and drama critic;
• Carey Mack Weber, the Frank and Clara Meditz executive director of the Fairfield University Art Museum.

After the presentations, members of the audience talked about what most appealed to them.

Mary Ellen Gallagher said Hieroglyphs to Hype: The Modern Afterlife of Ancient Egypt, an exhibition of paintings, prints, photographs and decorative objects, at the Fairfield University Art Museum from Sept. 18 to Dec. 12 sounded especially interesting, while Karen Hagen said Mr. Irrelevant: The John Tuggle Story, a film about the final pick in the National Football League’s 1983 draft, appealed to her.

Some recommendations extended beyond fall, and one of those, The Pancake Club, an upcoming play at the Westport Country Playhouse from April 20 to May 8, appealed to Susan Seath.

The play, about old friends who regularly meet at a diner, the death of a waitress’ oldest friend and a mysterious newcomer, will star Judith Ivey and was written by Charlotte Booker. Shanahan is the play’s director.

Alex Cirasuolo said she appreciated hearing about the Connecticut Art Trail, a group of 30 leading museums throughout the state and opportunities to hear cutting-edge music recommended by Toller. She also said The Social Reckoning, a film directed by Aaron Sorkin about the Facebook whistleblower scandal, seemed fascinating and very timely. “That is something I will definitely plan to see,” she said.

Theater

Upcoming plays at the Westport Country Playhouse, two of which will be world premieres, that Shanahan recommended were:

• Pride and Prejudice, Part 2: Napoleon at Pemberley from Oct. 20 to Nov. 7.
• A Sherlock Carol from Dec. 12 to 20.
• Murder For Two from March 4 to 7.
• The Pancake Club from April 20 to May 8.
• The Goldsmith from May 19 to 22.
• The Legend of Georgia McBride from July 13 to 31.

Pride and Prejudice, Part 2: Napoleon at Pemberley and The Pancake Club will be world premieres. “It’s in our DNA,” Shanahan said of presenting world premieres. “We always like to do something new.”

Shanahan added that great theatrical dramas can be found throughout Connecticut and that New York actors love to come to the Nutmeg State to perform.

Performing arts

Jones’ recommendations included:

• Le Patin Libre’s Super Roller Disco at the Yale Schwarzman Center in New Haven on Sept. 10. (Jones said a few extra inline skates and helmets would be available, prompting laughter from the audience.)
• Musician Amythyst Kiah at Fairfield Theatre Company’s Stage One on Sept. 24.
• Jazz artists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap at MoCA\CT in Westport on Jan. 30.
• Musicians Time for Three at MoCA\CT on April 29.
• What You Won’t Do For Love, a play at Fairfield University’s Quick Center for the Arts on Sept. 28 and 30.
• Ask the Ethicist: Kwame Anthony Appiah, a forum at the Quick Center for the Arts on Oct. 6.
• Sol Invictus by the renowned French-Algerian dance company Compagnie Herve KOUBI at the Quick Center for the Arts on Nov. 18.

After Jones’ recommendations, Toller said, “Radio seems like a thing of the past, but it shouldn’t be,” he said. WPKN 89.5 FM started in 1963 and was recently named by The New Yorker “the best radio station in the world,” according to Doug Weber.

Live music

Toller’s recommendations included:

• Jazz at the Post, produced by the Jazz Society of Fairfield County, at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 399 in Westport on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.
• Heaven Presents Purgatory, a post-disco and alternative dance night, at Cafe Nine in New Haven on Sept. 12.
• Southern Culture on the Skids, a rock and rockabilly band from North Carolina, at Cafe Nine on Oct. 2. “They throw fried chicken into the crowd. What else do you need to know?” Toller quipped.
• Bikini Kill, a feminist punk rock band, at the College Street Music Hall in New Haven on Sept. 21.
• Buzzcocks, a British punk band, at the District Music Hall in Norwalk on Sept. 25.
• Tony Visconti, an American record producer and singer to be interviewed by Dave Schneider, at the Fairfield Theatre Company on Nov. 5.
• Alejandro Escovedo & The Electric Saints at the Fairfield Theatre Company on Nov. 15.
• Happy Ending and VVEBS at Best Video Hamden on Nov. 14.

Cinema

Granger’s top 10 movie recommendations, which she hadn’t seen but which she thought had promise, were:

• Practical Magic, which reunites Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, opens Sept. 10.
• Heart of the Beast, a survivalist story that stars Brad Pitt, opens Sept. 25.
• Verity, a psychological thriller starring Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway and Josh Hartnett which opens Oct. 2.
• Digger, which opens Oct. 2 and which Granger described as “a comedy of catastrophic proportions,” stars Tom Cruise as a “bloated delusional oil tycoon who causes an apocalyptic disaster,” Granger said. Granger said Digger was the movie she was most looking forward to and that Cruise was “unrecognizable” in the film.
• The Social Reckoning, a film companion to the 2010 film The Social Network opens Oct. 9 and is about the Facebook whistleblower scandal.
• Whalefall opens Oct. 16 and is about a scuba diver trapped in the stomach of a sperm whale.
• Fatherland opens Oct. 23 and is about a post-World War II road trip across a divided Germany.
• Godzilla Minus Zero, a Japanese monster movie and sequel to the 2023 film Godzilla Minus One opens Nov. 6.
• Ebenezer, starring Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge, opens Nov. 13.
• The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, which Granger described as a prequel, opens Nov. 20.

Granger said she was tired of remakes. “These movies that I’m recommending are different. I think you’re going to enjoy them,” she said.

Granger said she did see Mr. Irrelevant: The John Tuggle Story, scheduled for release on Dec. 25. “My son (Don Granger, the president of film production at Paramount Pictures / Skydance) made it,” she said. “That’s why I saw it early.”

Fine arts

Weber, the Frank and Clara Meditz executive director of the Fairfield University Art Museum (and wife of Doug Weber), recommended:

• A conversation with internationally-acclaimed artist Teresita Fernandez at Grace Farms in New Canaan from 2 to 3 p.m. on Sept. 13. Fernandez will discuss Double Glass River, an undulating galaxy of 10,000 mirrored glass cubes that was created in 2015 and is now an integral part of Grace Farms.
• Rick Shaefer’s Colossi, massive and intricate charcoal drawings, at MoCA\CT through Nov. 15.
• W. Eugene Smith and the Art of Witnessing, an exhibition of photographs, at the Yale University Art Gallery through Dec. 6.
• Keeping Alive the Remembrance: Commemorating America’s Founding, 1776-1876, an exhibition at the Yale University Art Gallery through Oct. 18.
• Colors in the Dark: Ellen Carey, a photographic exhibition, at the William Benton Museum of Art in Mansfield through Dec. 20.
• Sightlines: British Landscape Photography, 1840 to Now, an exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art through Jan. 24.
• John Constable: The Landscape Reimagined, an exhibition at the Yale Center for British Art through July 25.
• Ming Smith Jazz Requiem – Notations in Blue, a photographic exhibit at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury through Jan. 17.
• James Welling’s Cento, a photographic exhibit at the Fairfield University Art Museum from Sept. 25 through Dec. 12.
• Making his Mark in Connecticut: The Creative Process of F. Luis Mora, an exhibition of drawings, prints and paintings, at the Housatonic Museum of Art in Bridgeport from Sept. 9 to Feb. 19.
• The Aldrich Decennial: I am what is around me, a recurring contemporary art survey, at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield through Jan. 10.
• Hieroglyphs to Hype: The Modern Afterlife of Ancient Egypt, an exhibition of paintings, prints, photographs and decorative objects, at the Fairfield University Art Museum from Sept. 18 to Dec. 12.
• The Wyeths: Three Generations | Works from the Bank of America Collection, an exhibition of paintings, at the New Britain Museum of American Art from Nov. 20 to March 21.

After the presentations ended, Hagen said, “There’s so much we have offered to us, and it’s nice to hear it all at once.” 

Andy Brophy

Andy Brophy is an experienced Fairfield County journalist. Andy was a staff writer at The Connecticut Post for 10 years. He also wrote for the Norwalk Hour, Fairfield Minuteman, Fairfield Patch and weekly newspapers in Westport, Fairfield and Norwalk. When not reporting, Andy enjoys playing chess and listening to pianist Art Tatum. ^_.