David Hyde Pierce will appear at Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut. The Emmy-winning actor, best known for playing fussy psychiatrist Niles Crane on Frasier, will lead a script-in-hand reading of the new comedy Old Man Trouble on November 30, 2026.
As reported by CT Insider, the production is part of a format the venue calls Script in Hand, in which actors perform with scripts in hand rather than full sets or costumes.
Old Man Trouble was written by David Wexler and Michael Cristofer. Pierce plays Robert Teitel, a wealthy real estate mogul who has had enough of his marriage, his grown children, his enormous fortune and the guests crowding his parties. The story unfolds on New Year's Eve in a lavish Manhattan townhouse, where Teitel's study becomes a revolving door of unexpected visitors, family crises, romantic complications and buried secrets.
Pierce Takes the Westport Stage in New Comedy
Mark Shanahan, who will direct the November 30 performance, called Pierce one of America's finest comic actors, per CT Insider's report.
BroadwayWorld announced a reading of Catherine Trieschmann's drama How the World Began at Westport Country Playhouse in a January 9, 2025, item: BroadwayWorld.
A Career Built on Comic Precision
Pierce is a Yale University graduate who studied classical piano before switching to English and theater arts, finishing his degree in 1981, per the CT Insider report. His Broadway résumé includes Hello Dolly!, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Curtains, Spamalot and Beyond Therapy, with the Curtains role earning him a Tony Award.
On television, Pierce is known for his long run on Frasier as well as roles in Julia and The Powers That Be, according to IMDb as cited in the report. His credits include Spamalot and Frasier.
For now, fans of the actor's particular brand of fastidious, finely tuned comedy have one more reason to circle the date.
