Wiilliamstown Theatre Festival Opens June 22
Streetcar Named Desire Stars Jessica Hecht
By: WTF - Jun 11, 2011
Williamstown Theatre Festival has released the full cast and creative team for Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, which will open the Nikos Stage productions for the 2011 Williamstown Theatre Festival (WTF) and will run June 22, 2011 through July 3, 2011, opening June 23, 2011 at 7:30pm.
WTF also announced the addition of on-stage seating for A Streetcar Named Desire, a WTF first! Audience members will have the opportunity to experience this already intimate production from an up-close-and-personal perspective. Director David Cromer explains, “One of our responsibilities is to present our audiences with fresh perspectives, fresh points of view on a play. In this case, literally changing the audience’s angle on the action in the Nikos hopefully refreshes the experience. Everyone is now that much closer to the play.”
David Cromer (Our Town; Orson’s Shadow at WTF) returns to WTF to direct Tennessee Williams’ raw and powerful drama A Streetcar Named Desire with a cast of WTF favorites and new talents making their WTF debut: Michael Bradley Cohen (Six Degrees of Separation at WTF) as Young Collector, Esteben Andres Cruz (Jesus Hopped the A Train) as Pablo, Jennifer Engstrom (A Red Orchid Theatre Company) as Eunice, Jessica Hecht (A View From the Bridge; Our Town at WTF) as Blanche DuBois, Vella Lovell (Camp Monster at WTF) as Mexican Woman, Crystal Lucas-Perry (WTF debut) as Negro Woman, Ana Reeder (“Damages”) as Stella Kowalski, Sam Rockwell (A Behanding in Spokane; The Hot L Baltimore at WTF) as Stanley Kowalski, Emily Simoness (House of Home at WTF) as Nurse, Daniel Stewart Sherman (Desire Under the Elms) as Mitch, Lou Sumrall (Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) as Steve, and Kirby Ward (Never Gonna Dance) as Doctor.
The creative team includes Collette Pollard (Set Design), Janice Paytel (Costume), Heather Gilbert (Lighting Design), Josh Schmidt (Sound Design/Composer), Thom Schall (Fight Direction), and Stephen Gabis (Dialect/Vocal) Davin De Santis is the Production Stage Manager.
With 28 productions of his plays in WTF’s history, Tennessee Williams and the Williamstown Theatre Festival have had a long and impressive relationship. To honor his 100th birthday, there’s no better gift than an intimate new production of his masterwork by one of today’s most inventive directors. In the close quarters of the Nikos Stage, the audience will take up temporary residence in the stifling Kowalski apartment to witness Williams’ turbulent tale of longing and delusion.
A Streetcar Named Desire opens the 2011 Nikos Stage productions followed by Lewis Black’s One Slight Hitch (July 6 – 17), the Sam Gold directed A Doll’s House (July 20 – 31), Bess Wohl’s Touch(ed) (August 3 – 14), and The Civillians’ You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents’ divorce (August 16 – 21). The Main Stage productions feature Jon Robin Baitz’s Three Hotels (June 29 – July 24), She Stoops to Conquer (July 27 – August 7) and Ten Cents a Dance (August 11 – 28).
TICKETS AND SCHEDULE
Tickets for the 2011 Williamstown Theatre Festival season are on sale now and can be purchased online at www.wtfestival.org, by phone at (413) 597-3400 or in person at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, 1000 Main St. (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167. New curtain times for all Main Stage and Nikos Stage shows are as follows: Tuesday - Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Saturday & Sunday at 2:00 p.m. For more schedule details, visit www.wtfestival.org.
WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL
The Williamstown Theatre Festival brings award-winning actors, directors, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. A WTF season covers a broad range of theatrical endeavors, revisiting classic plays with exciting new productions on its Main Stage, developing and nurturing bold new works on the Nikos Stage, and offering audiences a rich array of cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night Cabarets, readings, workshops, and educational programs like the Greylock Theatre Project–a program for children in neighboring North Adams. While best known for its acclaimed productions, WTF is also home to unparalleled training and professional development programs serving new generations of aspiring theatre artists and managers. WTF was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2002 and the Commonwealth Award for Achievement in 2011. The Festival welcomes Jenny Gersten as its new Artistic Director for the 2011 season.
MAIN STAGE
Three Hotels
By Jon Robin Baitz
Directed by Robert Falls
Cast includes: Maura Tierney, Steven Weber
June 29 – July 24, 2011
She Stoops to Conquer
By Oliver Goldsmith
Directed by Nicholas Martin
Cast includes: Brooks Ashmanskas, Mia Barron, Richard Easton, Holley Fain, Kristine Nielsen, Jon Patrick Walker, Jeremy Webb, Paxton Whitehead
July 27 – August 7, 2011
Ten Cents a Dance
Conceived and Directed by John Doyle
Music by Richard Rodgers
Lyrics by Lorenz Hart
Cast includes: Diana DiMarzio, Malcolm Gets, Donna McKechnie, Lauren Molina, Jane Pfitsch, Jessica Wright
August 11 – August 28, 2011
NIKOS STAGE
A Streetcar Named Desire
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by David Cromer
Cast includes: Michael Cohen, Esteban Andres Cruz, Jennifer Engstrom, Jessica Hecht, Vella Lovell, Ana Reeder, Sam Rockwell, Emily Simoness, Daniel Stewart Sherman, Lou Sumrall, Kirby Ward
June 22 – July 3, 2011
One Slight Hitch
By Lewis Black
Directed by Joe Grifasi
Cast includes: Ben Cole, Paige Howard, Mark Linn-Baker, Justin Long, Lizbeth MacKay, Jenna Philips
July 6 – 17, 2011
A Doll’s House
By Henrik Ibsen
Translated by Paul Walsh
Directed by Sam Gold
Cast includes: Josh Hamilton, Eliza Huberth, Oscar Isaac, Zinab Jah, Matthew Maher, Chris Messina, Lily Rabe, Lili Taylor
July 20 – 31, 2011
Touch(ed)
By Bess Wohl
Directed by Trip Cullman
Cast includes: Michael Chernus, Lisa Joyce, Merritt Wever
August 3 – 14, 2011
You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents’ divorce
Written by Anne Kauffman, Matthew Maher, Caitlin Miller, Jennifer R. Morris, Janice Paran, and Robbie Collier Sublett
Conceived by Jennifer R. Morris
Directed by Anne Kauffman
Cast includes: Matthew Maher, Caitlin Miller, Jennifer R. Morris, Robbie Collier Sublett
August 16 – 21, 2011 (one week only!)