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Wiilliamstown Theatre Festival Opens June 22

Streetcar Named Desire Stars Jessica Hecht

By: - Jun 11, 2011

WTF WTF

Williamstown Theatre Festival has released the full cast and creative team for Tennessee WilliamsA 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 CivilliansYou 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!)