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History
In 1935, while Franklin D. Roosevelt was coping with the Great Depression, Weston-born architect Raymond Austin was putting the finishing touches on a playhouse that one New York critic would later call "the most beautiful theatre in New England." The first Weston Playhouse, a converted Congregational church facing onto the town green, was renovated through a generous donation from Mrs. Herbert Otis Bailey - and featured a brand new stage and a magnificent Greek Revival facade. The playhouse also received some help from Mr. Roosevelt via his WPA Federal Artists Program which sponsored then resident painter Roy Williams in his creation of four great theatrical murals for the Playhouse walls. The beauty of the town and its theatre building soon convinced Boston Conservatory teacher Harlan Grant that Weston would be an ideal place to assemble a professional summer stock company. Grant successfully pitched his idea to Weston's Theatre Committee (now headed by Raymond Austin) and, in 1937, the first professional summer season began, opening with Noel Coward's Hay Fever featuring a young actor named Lloyd Bridges.
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