[3] The Playhouse quickly became an established stop on the New England "straw hat circuit" of summer stock theaters.

Over the years, Westport Country Playhouse apprentices have included composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, screenwriter Frank Perry, television host Sally Jesse Raphael, composer Mary Rodgers, actor Cary Elwes, and actress Tammy Grimes.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, the Westport Country Playhouse's successes included world premieres of William Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba and Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful, both of which went on to Broadway.

Since the Langners stepped down in 1959, the administration has included James B. McKenzie from 1959 to 2000, and actress Joanne Woodward, wife of actor Paul Newman, who served as artistic director from 2000 through 2005, following an 18-month, multi-million dollar renovation.

[5] Woodward and executive director Alison Harris led a $30.6 million renovation, transforming the old barn into a modern, year-round theatre facility.

At Woodward's suggestion, a piece of the original stage floor was placed at the dressing room entrance to give a little extra luck to the actors.

Some graduates include Stephen Sondheim, Frank Perry, Tammy Grimes, Sally Jessy Raphael, Mary Rodgers, and Christina Crawford.

The interns are entrusted with considerable responsibilities and treated as staff members while they engage in an intensive learning experience.

Each intern is hired for a specific position, but are expected to work as a team and pitch in where necessary, including, but not limited to, running crew, ushering, concessions and parking.

[8] Many notable performers have enhanced the Westport Country Playhouse stage from 1930 to the present, including such well-known names as Billie Burke, Liza Minnelli, Eartha Kitt, Gene Wilder, Paul Newman, James Earl Jones, Jane Curtin, Ruth Gordon, Kitty Carlisle, Henry Fonda, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Olivia de Havilland, Eva Gabor, Johanna Day, Robert Sean Leonard, Michael Allinson, and Jane Fonda.

Prior to the 2003-2005 renovation, the "Old Barn" was still a "hemp house"- with steel pipe battens suspended from fiber ropes, counterweighted by canvas sandbags.