2016 theatre schedules - Berkshire Links

April 25, 2016 Article by Dave Read

2016 Williamstown Theatre Festival schedule includes highlights such as Marisa Tomei in The Rose Tattoo, June 28 – July 17; Connie Ray and Andrew Weems in the world premiere comedy Romance Novels For Dummies, July 20 – July 31. Actors appearing in Williamstown during 2016 include: Christopher Abbott, Katie Lee Hill, Lindsay Mendez, Constance Shulman, Justin Long, Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Grace Gummer, Roe Hartrampf, Stephen Kunken. The cast for An American Daughter, August 3 – August 21, includes Deborah Rush, Kate Walsh, Darren Pettie, and Will Pullen.

WTF Main Stage | The Rose Tattoo | June 28 – July 17

The Rose Rattoo
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Trip Cullman
June 28 – July 17
With Christopher Abbott, Katie Lee Hill, Lindsay Mendez, Darren Pettie, Portia, Will Pullen, Constance Shulman, Marisa Tomei

Trip Cullman directs Marisa Tomei in this new production of The Rose Rattoo, by Tennessee Williams, Tony Award for Best Play in 1951. After retreating in grief, widow Serafina (Tomei) revives and rejoins the world when the hot-blooded trucker Alvaro (Christopher Abbott) arrives at her doorstep. Passion, gossip, music and mystery fill the air in this steamy Gulf Coast town, where possibility and promise ignite.

WTF Main Stage | Romance Novels For Dummies | July 20 – July 31

Romance Novels For Dummies, World Premiere
By Boo Killebrew
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel
July 20 – July 31
With Justin Long, Connie Ray, Andrew Weems

Sisters Liz and Bernie couldn’t be more different: Liz is a good, Southern stay-at-home mom; Bernie is a flailing actress smoking and swearing her way through New York City. But when Liz is suddenly widowed, she and her young daughter move in with Bernie to start again. While Bernie challenges all of Liz’s assumptions about life, love and raising a child, Liz goes out on a series of internet dates which eclipse the grief, fear and gentility she’s known for so long. Can Liz compel her own story to end like a romance novel?

WTF Main Stage | An American Daughter | August 3 – August 21

An American Daughter
By Wendy Wasserstein
Directed by Evan Cabnet
August 3 – August 21
With Saidah Arrika Ekulona, Grace Gummer, Roe Hartrampf, Stephen Kunken, Darren Pettie, Will Pullen, Deborah Rush, Kate Walsh

When the President of the United States nominates Dr. Lyssa Dent Hughes (Kate Walsh) to the position of Surgeon General, the excavation of her past triggers a scandal that threatens her confirmation. As partisan politics play out, Lyssa’s deep personal relationships and impressive career trajectory hang in the balance. Evan Cabnet directs Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Wendy Wasserstein’s prescient 1997 play about the cost one woman pays when she dares to have it all.

WTF Nikos Stage 2016 schedule

Featured on the Nikos Stage at Williamstown in 2016: Gregg Mozgala (Downsizing Camus), Rebecca Naomi Jones (American Idiot) and Wendell Pierce (“The Wire,” WTF’s 2008 Broke-ology) can be seen in the World Premiere Cost of Living (June 29 – July 10); Carson Elrod (Peter and the Starcatcher), Sue Jean Kim (Bachelorette), Brían F. O’Byrne (Doubt) who replaces the previously announced Michael Stuhlbarg and Laila Robins (“Homeland”) make up the cast of the World Premiere sci-fi comedy thriller The Chinese Room (July 13 – July 23); Jerry Dixon (If/Then), Jose Llana (The King and I), Katie Lee Hill, Stephen Wallem (“Nurse Jackie”) and Noah Zachary (Dear Edwina) will appear in the World Premiere musical Poster Boy (July 27 – August 7); and closing out the summer are the previously announced Tony and Emmy Award nominee Alfred Molina and Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee Jane Kaczmarek in the American Premiere of And No More Shall We Part (August 10 – August 21).

WTF Nikos Stage | Cost Of Living | June 29 – July 10

Cost Of Living, World Premiere
By Martyna Majok
Directed by Jo Bonney
June 29 – July 10
With Rebecca Naomi Jones, Gregg Mozgala, Wendell Pierce

Cost Of Living is about four very different people, in four very different circumstances, each trying to get by. Eddie (Wendell Pierce), an unemployed truck driver, reunites with his ex-wife Ani after she suffers a devastating accident. John (Gregg Mozgala), a brilliant and witty doctoral student, hires over-worked Jess (Rebecca Naomi Jones) as a caregiver. As their lives intersect, Majok’s play delves into the chasm between abundance and need and explores the space where bodies — abled and disabled — meet each other.

WTF Nikos Stage | The Chinese Room | July 13 – July 23

The Chinese Room, World Premiere
By Michael West
Directed by James Macdonald
July 13 – July 23
With Carson Elrod, Sue Jean Kim, Brían F. O’Byrne, Laila Robins

The Chinese Room is a sci-fi comedy thriller by Irish playwright Michael West. A visionary in the field of artificial intelligence, Frank (Brían F. O’Byrne) has built a humandroid to preserve his wife Lily’s (Laila Robins) memory — because she is losing hers. But when he is ousted from the company he founded, he must race to save his life’s work. As Frank scrambles to protect his property, his legacy and the technology he invented, the play examines how far we will go to preserve what we love.

WTF Nikos Stage | Poster Boy | July 27 – August 7

Poster Boy, World Premiere
Music and Lyrics by Craig Carnelia
Book by Joe Tracz
Movement by Danny Mefford
Directed by Stafford Arima
July 27 – August 7
With Jerry Dixon, Katie Lee Hill, Jose Llana, Stephen Wallem, Noah Zachary

Inspired by actual events surrounding the 2010 suicide of Tyler Clementi, a college student who brought national attention to cyber-bullying, Poster Boy is a new American musical. A community of gay men in an online chat room come together to discover what drove one of their own to take his life. This play lays bare the complexity of protecting our privacy, identity and humanity in the digital era.

WTF Nikos Stage | And No More Shall We Part | August 10 – August 21

And No More Shall We Part, American Premiere
By Tom Holloway
Directed by Anne Kauffman
August 10 – August 21
With Jane Kaczmarek, Alfred Molina

When Pam (Kaczmarek) becomes terminally ill, she and her husband Don (Molina) must face the most difficult decision yet in their long and loving marriage. With passion, fear, strength and even humor, they grapple with how, and if, to say goodbye.

Williamstown Theatre Festival tickets, Box office, nearby hotels, and directions

Single tickets for the 2016 Williamstown Theatre Festival season are now available at wtfestival.org and by phone at 413-458-3200 x 17. The WTF Box Office will open in June at which point tickets may be purchased online, by phone, or in person at the ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance Box Office at 1000 Main St (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167.

1000 Main St. – Rt. 2
Williamstown, MA 01267
Box office – 413-597-3400
web: wtfestival.org

Hotels in Williamstown, MA

1896 House Brookside & Pondside – 910 Cold Spring Road
1896 House Country Inn – Rt 7
House On Main Street – 1120 Main Street
Orchards Hotel – 222 Adams Road
Williamstown Motel – 295 Main Street
Howard Johnson Williamstown -213 Main Street
The Villager Motel – 953 Simonds Road

Follow the link for Berkshires travel information, including public transportation within Berkshire county and Amtrak and Peter Pan bus schedules.

[mappress mapid=”89″ width=”100%” height=”350″ adaptive=”true”]