Actor Tom Hanks made a surprise stage appearance alongside Tony Shalhoub and Wendie Malick on October 5 at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut, performing in the 100th installment of the theater’s long-running Script in Hand playreading series.
Organizers kept Hanks’s participation under wraps until just hours before the sold-out 7 p.m. show, an intentional decision made to prevent crowd disruption and maintain orderly logistics for theatergoers. The milestone performance took place before a packed audience at the historic Connecticut venue, with tickets priced at $35.
Inside ‘Portrait of a Woman in Repose’
The reading featured Portrait of a Woman in Repose, a new full-length drama written by Nicky Glossman and directed by his father, James Glossman. Set in 1818 post-revolutionary France, the narrative centers on art conservation, memory, and survival following the political upheaval of the era.
Malick portrayed Madame Anne Dulac, a woman recently returned from exile seeking to restore a damaged portrait painted by her late husband. Shalhoub played Jean Howlitz, a former painter and fellow survivor of the French Revolution hired to restore the artwork, forcing both characters to confront their shared and turbulent histories.
Hanks took on the role of Roderick Calley, the sharp-tongued man responsible for managing Dulac’s personal affairs, while also reading a secondary, smaller role as a French officer. Director James Glossman, who previously co-authored This World of Tomorrow with Hanks, read the stage directions from the podium, with Nicole Caroselli serving as production stage manager.
Humor and Drama on a Bare Stage
Following the tradition of the playhouse’s Script in Hand format, the production utilized minimal stagecraft: a bare stage, basic lighting, black curtains, and actors holding physical binders. The stripped-down presentation emphasized vocal delivery and physical improvisation.
Moments after stepping onto the stage, Hanks prompted laughter from the audience when he accidentally spilled water from a bottle onto Malick. Without physical props, the two-time Academy Award winner pantomimed several actions throughout the evening, mimicking smoking a cigar, pushing open a window, and zipping his lips when instructed by Dulac to remain silent.
Despite generating consistent humor through Calley’s dialogue, Hanks also anchored several of the reading’s tensest dramatic beats. In one confrontation, his character warned Howlitz, “Call me a thief again and I’ll break every finger on your right hand,” drawing absolute silence from the auditorium.
A Milestone for the Script in Hand Series
The performance marked the 100th reading in the Script in Hand initiative, an ongoing developmental program that has spanned two decades at the Westport venue.
“Obviously, you never know who might show up,” Westport Country Playhouse Artistic Director Mark Shanahan told the audience during his opening remarks. “Our 100th Script in Hand reading is a milestone to celebrate, and how fortunate we are to do so with these three beloved and renowned stars of stage and screen.”
The play has undergone earlier iterations, including staged readings and a streamed one-act version, and remains in active development. The Westport Country Playhouse will continue its Script in Hand series on Monday, November 30, with the title of the next presentation to be announced.
