There are some pretty familiar faces strolling down Spring Street in Williamstown, and they aren’t the town’s usual characters, but actors with familar faces, fresh from the entertainment capitals of the world. The locals take pleasure in naming them, while the actors are – as always – delighted to have arrived in their summer getaway. The Williamstown Theatre Festival has always been where New York and Los Angeles creatives have gone for a working vacation.
This year, WTF Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has been carefully assembling the casts and creative teams for her nine productions.
With the opening just a couple of weeks away, she has revealed her teams for the first two productions of the 2012 season: The Importance of Being Earnest will be presented on the Main Stage from June 26 through July 14 (opening June 28) and the World Premiere of The Blue Deep will grace the Nikos Stage from June 27 through July 8 (opening June 28). Both casts arrived in Williamstown today for their first rehearsals on the bucolic Williams College campus in preparation for the runs of these exciting and unique productions at the Festival.
Something’s up with Oscar Wilde’s quintessential comedy of manners, The Importance of Being Earnest, as one might expect since it is being directed by David Hyde Pierce, whose portrayal of Niles Crane for 11 seasons on NBC’s “Frasier” earned him four Emmy Awards. The cast features Marylouise Burke (Fuddy Meers) as Miss Prism, Louis Cancelmi as Algernon Moncrieff, Helen Rita Cespedes as Cecily Cardew, Sean Cullen (South Pacific) as Lane, Emmy and Tony Award winner Tyne Daly (“Cagney and Lacey”, Master Class, Gypsy) as Lady Bracknell, Glenn Fitzgerald (The Sixth Sense) as Jack Worthing, Paul Anthony McGrane as Merriman, Amy Spanger (Elf, Rock of Ages) as Gwendolyn Fairfax, and Henry Stram (WTF’s R Shomon) as Chasuble with Charlotte Bydwell, Julian Cihi, Alexander Seife, and Ariana Seigel.
Those raised pinkies and the Oscar Wilde connection seem to indicate something funny is going on. But all the press information reveals is this: What if a family of Guys and Dolls-style gangsters moved to Downton Abbey-style London in order to escape certain, shall we say, entanglements? What if two of these wise guys fell hard for two tough dolls? And what if the formidable dame who runs the aforementioned criminal family developed an appetite for cucumber sandwiches? Director David Hyde Pierce gives us Oscar Wilde’s hilarious high society satire, The Importance of Being Earnest, in a very new way. Welcome to the family.
The creative team includes Allen Moyer (Scenic Design), Ben Stanton (Lighting Design), Michael Krass (Costume Design), and Jill BC Du Boff (Sound Design). Eileen Kelly is the Production Stage Manager.
Meanwhile, the World Premiere of The Blue Deep by Lucy Boyle is directed by Bob Balaban (Bernard and Doris, Tennessee and Me). The new play stars Becky Ann Baker (WTF’s Our Town), Emmy and Tony Award winner and WTF veteran Blythe Danner (WTF’s The Seagull, “Meet the Parents”), Jack Gilpin (WTF’s Design for Living), “Boardwalk Empire” regular Heather Lind (former WTF Non-Equity Company), and Finn Wittrock (Broadway’s Death of a Salesman).
Though only in her twenties, Lila Miller (Lind) is stuck, while her mother, Grace (Danner), is perpetually in motion. When Lila returns home to her family’s exquisite Hamptons house and garden with only a plastic bag and a broken heart, there’s no nurturing to be found, except as pertains to horticulture. The same painful history that threatens to drive mother and daughter permanently apart ultimately evolves into the one realm where reconnection might be possible. The Blue Deep is an achingly honest and funny play about loss, growing up, and the benefits of aquaerobics.
Rounding out the creative team is Takeshi Kata and Andrew Boyce (Scenic Design), Matthew Richards (Lighting Design), Mimi O’Donnell (Costume Design), and John Gromada (Sound Design and Composer). Libby Unsworth is the Production Stage Manager.
As previously announced, the complete 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival season runs from June 26 – August 19, 2012 and includes Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, a Preview Production of the new musical Far From Heaven, and a new translation of Ivan Turgenev’s A Month in the Country on the Main Stage, with Lucy Boyle’s The Blue Deep, Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man, and Katori Hall’s WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! on the Nikos Stage.
The season will also include a pre-season opener, a special workshop production of David Byrne’s Here Lies Love, which will play at nearby Mass MoCA from June 20-24.
About the Festival
Since 1955, the Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought America’s finest actors, directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. Each WTF season is designed to present unique opportunities for artists and audience alike, revisiting classic plays with innovative productions, developing and nurturing bold new plays and musicals, and offering a rich array of accompanying cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night Cabarets, readings, workshops, and educational programs. While best known for our acclaimed productions, WTF is also home to one of the nation’s top training and professional development programs for new generations of aspiring theatre artists and administrators. Now under the leadership of Artistic Director Jenny Gersten, WTF was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2002 and the Commonwealth Award for Achievement in 2011.
Tickets and Schedule
The Williamstown Theatre Festival Box Office will open on June 5th, 2012 at which point tickets may be purchased online (www.wtfestival.org), by phone at 413-597-3400, or in person at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance Box Office at 1000 Main St (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167.
The Festival’s Nikos Stage is an intimate 173-seat venue that regularly sells out in advance from within the pool of Festival donors.
WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL
2012 SEASON SUMMARY
MAIN STAGE:
The Importance of Being Earnest
By Oscar Wilde
Directed by David Hyde Pierce
June 26 – July 14, 2012
Far From Heaven
Book by Richard Greenberg
Music by Scott Frankel
Lyrics by Michael Korie
Directed by Michael Greif
July 19 – 29, 2012
A Month in the Country
By Ivan Turgenev
Translated by Richard Nelson, Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky
Directed by Richard Nelson
August 1 – 19, 2012
NIKOS STAGE:
The Blue Deep
By Lucy Boyle
Directed by Bob Balaban
June 27 – July 8, 2012
Last of the Red Hot Lovers
By Neil Simon
Directed by Jessica Stone
July 11 – 22, 2012
The Elephant Man
By Bernard Pomerance
Directed by Scott Ellis
July 25 – August 5, 2012
WHADDABLOODCLOT!!!
By Katori Hall
Directed by May Adrales
August 8 – 19, 2012
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTIONS
http://cdn.topspin.net/api/v3/player/16368
THE HUNTER CENTER AT MASS MOCA
Here Lies Love
Written by David Byrne
Music by David Byrne & Fatboy Slim
Directed by Alex Timbers
June 20 – 24, 2012
FREE THEATRE
At Poker Flats
The Valley of Fear
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Adapted by Steve Lawson
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
July 11 – 14, July 17 – 20, 2012
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