Amber Iman, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Annie Golden & More to be Featured in Williamstown Theatre Festival Readings
The Fridays@3 reading series is a renowned program for the development and discovery of new work.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jun. 29, 2023
Today, Williamstown Theatre Festival Interim Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced Nick and the Prizefighter, the new play byKamilah Bush, directed by Kristolyn Lloyd, and featuring Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Amber Iman, Dane DeHaan, and dL Sams, with music composed by Brittany Campbell, will be a part of the Festival’s 2023 Fridays@3 reading series. Gersten also announces additional casting, creative team members, and information for other plays that are a part of the series.
The Fridays@3 reading series is a renowned program for the development and discovery of new work. Many Festival productions started as Fridays@3 readings. Spend the afternoon at the Clark Art Institute with a play in development, performed by professional actors.
Friday, July 14
Nick and the Prizefighter
By Kamilah Bush
Directed by Kristolyn Lloyd
Featuring Dane DeHaan, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Amber Iman, and dL Sams
Music Composed by Brittany Campbell
WTF announces the reading of Kamilah Bush’s new play Nick and the Prizefighter, directed by Kristolyn Lloyd featuring Dane DeHaan, Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Amber Iman, and dL Sams.
Selah Thompson is the caregiver for her famous playwright father, Forest Thompson. Nick Beerman, a young writer and dramaturg, is tasked with helping Forest complete his life's work before the clock runs out. Selah must fight for control of her father's work and legacy—and find her own rhythm as she prepares to face the world without him.
Friday, July 21
Plunder and Lightning
Directed by Portia/">Portia-Krieger/">Portia/">Portia Krieger
Featuring Samantha Bohrer, Johanna Day, Annie Golden,
Nina Grollman, and John Pankow
Samantha Bohrer, Tony Award nominee Johanna Day, Annie Golden, Nina Grollman, and John Pankow will be featured in Plunder and Lightning, the dark comedy about greed and the urgent power of love written by Cindy Lou Johnson, directed by Portia/">Portia-Krieger/">Portia/">Portia Krieger.
Tina and George’s preparations for an important party are wildly derailed when their daughter Rikki shows up on the run from the cops, and Tina’s stepmother, Lola, threatens to levy charges of elder abuse. A dark comedy about greed and the urgent power of love, Plunder and Lightning examines the price to be paid for burying our sins—in the field out back.
Friday, July 28
Chapters of a Floating Life
By Clarence Coo
Directed by Jennifer Chang
Featuring Grant Chang, James Chen, Leah Getz, Teresa Avia Lim, Diana Oh
The reading of Clarence Coo’s new Chapters of a Floating Life, previously announced for Friday, July 14 will now play Friday, July 28 as part of the Fridays@3 series featuring Grant Chang, James Chen, Leah Getz, Teresa Avia Lim, and Diana Oh. The reading will be directed by Jennifer Chang.
Two couples from China try to make ends meet in New York City in the wake of the Second World War. One husband and wife live uptown, obsessed with a past of poetry, painting, and gardens. Another pair face the day-to-day reality of keeping a Chinatown restaurant in business. Their worlds, previously separated by class and education, converge when the two women find each other in Central Park and fall under the spell of the Chinese language.
August 4
Wipeout
By Aurora Real de Asua
Directed by Maggie Burrows
Featuring Emily Kuroda and Becky Ann Baker
Emily Kuroda and Becky Ann Baker will appear in the reading of the new septuagenarian surf comedy by Aurora Real de Asua, directed by Maggie Burrows.
It’s Gary’s 77th birthday and all she wants to do is surf. The only problem? She’s never stepped foot on a board before. But with the help of a hot-rod teenage surf instructor and the company of her two best friends, Gary is about to go on the ride of her life. As the three women navigate the currents of the Pacific, they must confront seven decades of secrets and sacrifices, not to mention the odd jellyfish or two.
Additional casting for Wipeout will be announced shortly.
Additional creative team and casting for the Fridays@3 readings and additional
details about the Main Stage Reading Series, WTF Cabarets, and the Artists-in-Residence program will all be announced shortly.
Tickets for the 2023 Season can be purchased online at wtfestival.org or by calling the WTF Box Office at (413) 458-3253.
Masking requirements vary by venue. Use of face masks is optional for all visitors at the '62 Center for Theatre & Dance and the Clark Art Institute.
If you have additional questions regarding your visit, please contact the WTF Box Office at (413) 458-3253 or by email at tickets@wtfestival.org.
PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED
MAIN STAGE READING SERIES
Get up close and personal with beloved Festival actors at the Main Stage Reading Series, where new and classic plays come to life on the specially created intimate 2023 Festival Stage. Watch as the creative process unfolds before you and experience these works in exhilarating new ways.
Saturday, July 22 & Sunday, July 23
Paris, ACTORS!
Directed by Jack O’Brien
Featuring Gus Birney, Hamish Linklater, Lily Rabe, Noah Robbins, Jordan Tyson
Three-time Tony Award winner Jack O’Brien will direct the reading of the new play Paris, ACTORS!, a blistering backstage farce written by Hamish Linklater who will appear in the play opposite longtime partner and Tony Award nominee Lily Rabe. Joining Linklater and Rabe will be Gus Birney, Noah Robbins, and Jordan Tyson.
Occupied Paris. 1944. Real-life celebrity Nazi Werner Krauss is between projects. But the Party, desperate for a propaganda extravaganza in the City of Lights, has arranged a remount of his notorious Merchant of Venice produced by a French theater teeming with family secrets. Paris, ACTORS! is The Last Metro if Truffaut were unavailable to direct, but the Marx Brothers were.
Saturday, July 29 & Sunday, July 30
Three Sisters
By Anton Chekhov
Translation by Paul Schmidt
Featuring Edmund Donovan, Grace Gummer, Henry Wolfe Gummer, Mamie Gummer, Louisa Jacobson, Robert Sean Leonard, John Rothman, Dario Ladani Sanchez
Real-life sisters Grace Gummer, Mamie Gummer, and Louisa Jacobson will play the title characters in a reading of the Chekhov classic Three Sisters. They will be joined by their singer-songwriter brother Henry Wolfe Gummer, John Rothman, Edmund Donovan, Tony Award winner Robert Sean Leonard, and Dario Ladani Sanchez.
The beloved Prozorov family returns to Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer to recount their timeless and tumultuous tale of existential longing. In this Chekhov classic, sisters Olga, Masha, and Irina yearn for the promise of Moscow while grappling with the tribulations of unrequited love and family drama at home. In the wake of their father’s death and a changing Russia, the women must face the reality of their choices and take responsibility for their uncertain futures.
Additional casting and creatives for Three Sisters will be announced shortly.
Saturday, August 5 & Sunday, August 6
The Pillowman
Directed by Lila Neugebauer
WTF’s upcoming reading of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman will be directed by Drama Desk and Obie Award winner Lila Neugebauer with casting announced shortly.
They say life imitates art – but what happens when that art is horror? In a totalitarian dictatorship, young author Katurian is interrogated by the authorities after a string of child murders bears a striking resemblance to his grisly short stories. When his brother admits to the murders and implicates Katurian and their troubled childhood, more complicated questions arise – is it really possible to separate art from artist? Widely regarded as one of the greatest plays of the last 25 years, The Pillowman is as dark as comedies get and is sure to keep audiences glued to the edge of their seats.
Casting and additional creatives for The Pillowman will be announced shortly.
Hasan Minhaj: EXPERIMENT TIME
Hasan Minhaj: Experiment Time will now play a strictly limited four-performance engagement on Saturday, July 8 (3 PM and 8 PM) and Sunday, July 9 (2 PM and 7 PM) on the Main Stage at the ‘62 Center for Theatre & Dance. Minhaj will showcase and prepare new material for his latest work-in-progress.
Minhaj is one of the most in-demand comedians on screen and stage today. Earlier this year, he was the guest host of “The Daily Show,” and he is also the host and creator of Netflix’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning weekly comedy show “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” and the Netflix comedy specials “Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King” and “The King's Jester.”
Laura Benanti IN CONCERT
For one performance only on Sunday, July 16 at 3 PM on WTF’s Main Stage, Broadway legend and Tony Award winner Laura Benanti graces the Main Stage to share songs from her illustrious career. A long-time friend of the Festival, Laura also starred as Perdita in the WTF production of The Winter’s Tale (2001) and last performed for WTF audiences at the 2020 Gala. A star on stage and screen, Laura’s career spans over two decades since she took Broadway by storm at the age of 18. Laura has earned two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, and garnered five Tony Award nominations.
Proceeds from Laura Benanti in Concert benefit Williamstown Theatre Festival.
WTF CABARET
This summer, WTF is partnering with Tony Award nominee and Festival mainstay Christopher Fitzgerald to curate the return of the WTF Cabaret. Intimate, casual, and always surprising, these exhilarating evenings feature performances by Festival artists you know and love! No two weekends are the same, and all shows take place on the specially created 2023 Festival Stage, featuring a mix of premium cabaret-style tables and traditional seating, as well as a full bar.
The WTF Cabaret will take place over three successive weekends: Thursday, July 20 – Saturday, July 22; Thursday, July 27 – Saturday, July 29; and Thursday, August 3 – Saturday, August 5. Artists for each weekend will be announced shortly.
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE WORKSHOPS
Play development is a year-round activity at WTF. Every summer, the Festival supports new work in development by inviting artists to participate in residencies and workshops. We’re thrilled to welcome the following artists and projects to Williamstown this summer.
Breaking the Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty on our own terms in spaces built by and for us. Breaking the Binary Theatre hosts a number of programs and initiatives, including our flagship artistic event each October: the all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. @BreakingTheBinaryTheatre on Instagram. www.btb-nyc.com.
TWITCH
By Liliana Padilla (they/them)
Directed by Jack Ferver (they/them)
Dramaturgy by Desiree S. Mitton (she/they)
Produced by Breaking the Binary Theatre
Following their collaboration as a part of the inaugural Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival in October of 2022, playwright Liliana Padilla (they/them), director Jack Ferver (they/them), dramaturg Desiree S. Mitton (she/they) are reuniting with several of their BTB collaborators to further dive into the world of TWITCH as part of Breaking the Binary Theatre's 2023 Falco and Steinman Residency Program.
Nightdrive makes rigorously irreverent, demandingly vulnerable, borderline-impossible plays that use indelible moments of stagecraft to build thrillingly personal relationships with audiences. Their work includes an apocalypse around a campfire (The Grown-Ups, Time Out New York’s Top 10 NYC Theatre Productions of 2021); a live immersive alien movie (Alien Nation); a five-dimensional community meeting with a full pancake breakfast cooked on stage (Providence, RI); a haunted rock concert (Thank You Sorry); and a hybrid comic book with interactive animation (Apathy Boy). They’ve been semifinalists for the American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award, finalists for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and resident artists at Pipeline Theatre Company and Ars Nova.
Society
By Skylar Fox and Simon Henriques
Society is part play, part participatory focus group, part collective fever dream, presented around a giant conference table. You can’t believe they still ask you back in for more sessions—it feels like you’ve been going there forever. But the money’s decent, and it costs so much to live in this city. And there are snacks. It’s supposed to be a different group in there every time, but a couple people are starting to look familiar. Maybe you’re just imagining things. But they’re staring at you, too, right?
Waterwell is a group of artists, educators, and producers dedicated to telling engrossing stories that deliberately wrestle with complex civic questions in unexpected ways. WW creates productions that are creatively daring and emotionally potent to cultivate connections across real and perceived divides. www.waterwell.org
Plate Spinner Productions is a production company working across entertainment media. PSP is committed to developing, nurturing, and producing unique and dynamic stories that challenge artists and audiences to question the status quo, and believe that a fair and equitable world is possible. www.platespinnerproductions.com
A Good Day to Me Not to You
Directed by Lee Sunday Evans
A co-production of Waterwell and Plate Spinner Productions
Writer and actor Lameece Issaq teams up with two-time Obie winner Lee Sunday Evans on her riotously funny and gut-wrenching new play about a 40-whatever dental lab tech who gets fired and moves into St. Agnes Residence, a woman's boarding house run by nuns. While there, she must come to terms with her unfulfilled path to motherhood, the untimely death of her sister, and earth-shaking news about her beloved nephew - all while fending off her unpredictable and sometimes deranged cohabitants. Performed by Issaq in a story-telling tour-de-force.
In addition to these companies, please visit the WTF website for a full list of artists who will be joining us in residence this summer.
“A NEW BRAIN” PRODUCED IN PARTNERSHIP
WITH BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY
As previously announced, Williamstown Theatre Festival (WTF) will partner with Barrington Stage Company (BSC) to present the 1998 musical A New Brain, featuring music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Finn and James Lapine, and direction by Joe Calarco.
A New Brain will feature Adam Chanler-Berat, three-time Tony Award nominee Mary Testa, Tally Sessions, Demond Green, Dorcas Leung, Joshua Lamon, Salome Smith, and Justine Horihata Rappaport.
A New Brain will play from Wednesday, August 16 through Sunday, September 10 on BSC’s Boyd-Quinson Stage (30 Union Street, Pittsfield, MA). Opening night is Sunday, August 20. Tickets for A New Brain can be purchased now directly through the BSC Box Office at (413) 236-8888 or by visiting barringtonstageco.org/tickets. For more information about A New Brain, including updated masking policies, please visit www.barringtonstageco.org.
FRIDAYS@3 READING BIOGRAPHIES
Nick and the Prizefighter
Kamilah Bush is a playwright, dramaturg, and educator originally from North Carolina. She has spent several years working in celebrated regional theaters across the country, including Triad Stage in North Carolina, Asolo Repertory Theater in Florida and Two River Theater in New Jersey. She currently holds the position of Literary Manager at Portland Center Stage in Portland, OR. In her time at regional theaters she has worked as dramaturg on new musicals with the writing team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and with Be More Chill’s Joe Iconis. Her play Nick and the Prizefighter was a semifinalist in the 2021 Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, the 2022 L. Arnold Weissberger Award, and the 2023 Princess Grace Award, and won the 2021 Urbanite Theater Modern Works Festival.
Kristolyn Lloyd is also a Grammy and Emmy Award-winning actress. Her directing credits include: Dainty (The Garden Workshop, Mosaic Theatre), Nick and the Prizefighter (Urbanite Theatre Modern Works Festival), A Patriots Place (B-Street Theatre Readings, BOLD Festival). Acting credits include Broadway: 1776, Dear Evan Hansen. Off Broadway: Little Women (Primary Stages), Blue Ridge (Atlantic) Paradise Blue, The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre), Invisible Thread (Second Stage Theatre), Heathers The Musical (New World Stages). Television includes: “Chicago Med,” “ER” (NBC), “Random Acts of Flyness” (HBO), “The Bold and The Beautiful,” “Elementary,” “Madam Secretary,” “Kevin Can Wait” (CBS), and “Lie to Me” (FOX). @kristolynlloyd
Dane DeHaan is currently shooting “American Primeval” for Netflix and will next be seen in Christopher Nolan's upcoming film Oppenheimer, across Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, and Emily Blunt. Additionally, he recently appeared in Antonio Campos' highly anticipated HBO Max drama, “The Staircase,” alongside Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Juliette Binoche, and Sophie Turner. He also starred in Stephen King’s “Lisey’s Story” opposite Juliane Moore, Clive Owen, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Joan Allen. The series is directed by Pablo Larrain for Apple TV+. He can also be seen in Amazon Studio’s international cocaine drama Zero Zero Zero, from director Stefano Sollima. On the silver screen DeHaan was last seen as Billy the Kid in The Kid opposite Ethan Hawke and Chris Pratt and as Gore Verbinski’s leading man in A Cure For Wellness. Other film and television credits include The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Place Beyond The Pines, Chronicle, Kill Your Darlings, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Lawless, and “In Treatment.”
Tony winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson directed the Broadway production Jitney which garnered several awards for Outstanding Revival including the Tony Award and six Tony nominations. Santiago-Hudson won accolades for his adapted screenplay of Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Directed by George C. Wolfe, the film stars Oscar nominees Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman and is produced by Denzel Washington. Ruben’s directing credits include: The Piano Lesson, Skeleton Crew, Othello, Gem of The Ocean, Paradise Blue, My Children! My Africa!, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Cabin in the Sky, The Happiest Song Plays Last, Two Trains Running, Things of Dry Hours, and more.
Santiago-Hudson received a Tony Award as featured actor for his performance in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars and made his Broadway acting debut alongside Gregory Hines in Jelly’s Last Jam; other Broadway credits include Stick Fly and Gem of the Ocean. He wrote, executive produced, and co-starred in the HBO film Lackawanna Blues based on his OBIE and Helen Hayes Award-winning play. The movie received honors including Emmy, Golden Globe, NAACP Image Award, The Christopher Award and the Humanitas Prize. Ruben brought Lackawanna Blues to Broadway’s Manhattan Theatre Club in September 2021 where starred and direct.
On film Ruben starred opposite Denzel Washington in American Gangster, opposite Halle Berry in Their Eyes Were Watching God, Samuel L. Jackson in Shaft, Al Pacino in Devil’s Advocate, and John Travolta in Domestic Disturbance. On television he portrayed famed chemist Dr. Percy Julian in “Forgotten Genius” and starred opposite Gregory Hines in “The Red Sneakers.” Ruben’s other feature films and mini-series include “Selma,” “The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks,” “American Tragedy,” “Solomon and Sheba” (the first time a biblical movie starred actors of color), and opposite Christopher Reeve in “Rear Window.”
Ruben recently was a series regular on the CBS series “East New York,” opposite Amanda Warren and Kevin Rankin. Additional television credits include series regular roles on “The Quad,” “Public Morals,” and “Low Winter Sun” as well recurring roles on “Billions,” “The West Wing,” “Law & Order,” and numerous other guest star appearances. Santiago-Hudson starred on the hit ABC series “Castle,” for three seasons and “David Makes Man” for (OWN).
In a career that spans over four decades, Ruben considers opening The Ruben Santiago-Hudson Fine Arts Learning Center in 2014 in his hometown of Lackawanna, NY as one of his most cherished accomplishments.
Amber Iman is a performer, filmmaker, and activist. She debuted on Broadway as the High Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone, in Soul Doctor, earning rave reviews and a Clive Barnes Award nomination. Since, she has been seen in George C. Wolfe’s Shuffle Along, the national tour of the megahit musical, Hamilton, and she has performed Off-Broadway and regionally with New York Theatre Workshop, New World Stages, Two River Theater, the Kennedy Center, and many more, earning nominations for Helen Hayes, IRENE, and Ovation Awards. Amber recently starred in two Broadway-bound musicals: Lempicka at La Jolla Playhouse and Goddess at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. Amber was honored with a Tony Award for her work with Broadway Advocacy Coalition and was selected for Variety’s 10 Broadway Stars to Watch list in 2022.
dL Sams is thrilled to be joining the cast and creative team of Nick and The Prizefighter! Select credits include Broadway: Clyde’s. Film: Luckiest Girl Alive, Confetti, A Holiday in Harlem. Television: “And Just Like That,” “Blue Bloods,” “Godfather of Harlem,” “Dietland.” Special thanks to friends and family.
Brittany Campbell is an award-winning singer, songwriter, producer, animator, and actress. Getting her start from an early age winning a singing competition that led her to be recruited into the Metropolitan Opera, Brittany has graced Broadway stages in productions such as Hamilton, Civil War, and A Christmas Carol. Influenced by soul, R&B, rock, and the harmonic richness of jazz, Brittany's debut album Stay Gold (2018) was self-released to overwhelmingly positive reviews in the indie scene. Showing off her arsenal of emotion-evoking R&B lyrics and vocals on Stay Gold, the album caught the attention of tastemakers like Bandcamp who said “Campbell’s music fills the space between public relationships and intimate narratives, voicing the fears, promises, reservations, and revelations of the innermost heart to the unnamed lover/s addressed in her songwriting.” Called “Renaissance Girl” by Lady Gunn, Brittany's creative passions are ever expanding. In 2019 she formed a duo called Mermaid, praised by Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) for their thought-provoking lyricism. Signed to Justin Tranter's Facet House (Warner Chapel) in 2022, Brittany has garnered over 16 television and film syncs this year. She is currently writing original music for the musical television series “Grease: Rise of the PinkLadies” now streaming on Paramount+.
Plunder and Lightning
Cindy Lou Johnson is best known for her play Brilliant Traces which has had many productions throughout the world. Other plays include The New Americans, Propaganda, Under Cover of Darkness, The Years, Blessé, and The Person I Once Was. Her work has been produced by Manhattan Theatre Club, The Cherry Lane, Naked Angels, Actors Theatre of Louisville, The Alliance Theater, The Edinburgh Fringe, and the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference and published by Dramatists Play Service and The Best Monologues series. She is a recipient of a National Endowment Fellowship, George Soros’ OSA grant to study in Budapest, and a Huntington Library Fellowship. She also works in film and television and won an Ace award for HBO’s Vietnam War Stories. Johnson is committed to the alliance between artists and their community and as a member of the 52nd Street Project wrote and directed over fifteen, one-act plays for inner-city kids.
Portia/">Portia-Krieger/">Portia/">Portia Krieger is a NYC-based director of new plays and musicals. She has directed and developed work with Clubbed Thumb, 2ST, the O’Neill, Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout, New York Stage & Film, Rattlestick, Page 73, Ars Nova, the Lark, the Juilliard School, NYMF, and others. Portia/">Portia has been an O’Neill/NNPN National Director Fellow, a two-time New Georges Audrey Resident, a participant in the Drama League Directors Project, and an Ars Nova Director-in Residence. She is a Clubbed Thumb Affiliated Artist, a company member of ColtCoeur and Lesser America, and co-founder of the New Georges Jam. Associate Director of Broadway’s Fun Home and Seminar, and Almost Famous. And she is thrilled to be back at Williamstown! www.portiakrieger.com
Samantha Bohrer is a recent graduate from Fordham University with a degree in Theatre Performance and a Minor in Sports Journalism. Favorite past credits include: "Blood Wedding" (Choreographer/Movement director), "Dance Nation" (Maeve), "Hand to God" (Jessica), and "Parade: In Concert" with Manhattan Concert Productions (Ensemble). In addition to acting, Samantha is passionate about sports journalism and broadcasting, having spent two of her years at Fordham as a beat reporter for the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers for the NPR-affiliate radio station, WFUV Sports. She is thrilled to be joining Williamstown Theatre Festival for the first time and cannot wait to create with such talented artists. Website: www.samanthabohrer.com.
Johanna Day. Broadway: How I Learned To Drive, The Nap, Sweat (Tony nomination), You Can’t Take It With You, August: Osage County, Lombardi, Proof (Tony nomination). Other theatre: Des Moines (TFANA), Floyd’s (Guthrie) Peace for Mary Francis (New Group), Peter and Jerry (Second Stage – Drama Desk Award nomination), Appropriate (Signature - Obie Award, Lilly Award), Poor Behavior (Mark Taper), Realistic Joneses (Yale), Choice (Huntington), The Rainmaker (Arena Stage – Helen Hayes Award), How I Learned to Drive (Vineyard). Television: “Madam
Secretary” (five years recurring), “Bull,” “For Life,” “New Amsterdam,” “The Blacklist,” “Escape at Dannemora,” “The Knick,” “The Americans,” “Masters of Sex,” “Alpha House,” “Royal Pains.” Film: Worth, Save Yourselves, What is Life Worth, The Post, Great Gilley Hopkins, How Far She Went, and The Breatharian.
Nina Grollman made her Broadway debut as Margie in The Iceman Cometh. She then went on to play Scout in Aaron Sorkin’s To Kill A Mockinbird. Nina is also a musician and comedian who has performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, People’s Improv Theater, IO West and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She makes music under the moniker Softee and has been featured in publications such as Rolling Stone and Paper Magazine. A graduate of Juilliard, Nina can soon be seen in the Apple+ series, “Bad Monkey”.
Annie Golden was discovered by Milos Forman while on the Bowery fronting a rock band, she was then cast as “Jeannie” in the 1978 film Hair. Most recently, she can be seen in the highly acclaimed Broadway production of Into the Woods. On the television front, she can be seen in the final season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Other notable roles include "Norma" in “Orange is the New Black” for Netflix (for which she received three Screen Actors Guild awards), the recurring role of “Ellie” on Fox's series “Filthy Rich,” HBO's “Marjorie” in the pilot “Run” and "Barbie" in “High Maintenance.” Broadway credits include Into the Woods revival (Grammy award winner), Annie Golden is Broadway Hunter (with book, music, and lyrics by Joe Iconis), Violet, Xanadu, The Full Monty, Ah! Wilderness. Annie was Sondheim's original Squeaky Fromme in Assassins (Playwrights Horizons)
John Pankow. Broadway credits include Amadeus, The Iceman Cometh; Cymbeline; Serious Money; Twelve Angry Men; and Kiss Me, Kate. John appeared in the Off-Broadway premieres of Sharr White’s The True, Christopher Durang’s Why Torture is Wrong and The People Who Love Them, John Patrick Shanley’s Italian-American Reconciliation, David Mamet’s Keep Your Pantheon, Kenny Lonergan’s Medieval Play, Peter Hedges’ Baby Anger, Israel Horovitz’ North Shore Fish, Brian Friel’s Aristocrats, and Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine. For television, Mr. Pankow played Ira Buchman in the long-running NBC comedy “Mad About You,” as well as volatile television exec Merc Lapidus on Showtime’s “Episodes.” Feature films include Morning Glory, Putzel, Mortal Thoughts, Married Young, The Secret of My Success, and To Live and Die in L.A.
Chapters of a Floating Life
Clarence Coo was born in the Philippines and grew up in a crowded, multilingual household in Virginia. He writes about language, class, and sexuality. His plays include On That Day in Amsterdam, The God of Wine, The Birds of Empathy, Beautiful Province (Belle Province), and People Sitting in Darkness. His work has been produced or developed at Primary Stages, the Atlantic Theater Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, New York Theatre Workshop, and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. He has received fellowships from the Dramatists Guild of America, the Rita Goldberg Playwrights’ Workshop at the Lark, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Playwrights Realm, and he has been the recipient of a Whiting Award and the Yale Drama Series Prize. He received his MFA in playwriting at Columbia University. He is a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab and an alumnus of New Dramatists.
Jennifer Chang. Recent directing credits include The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh at Milwaukee Rep (world premiere), On Gold Mountain with LA Opera at the Huntington, The Great Leap by Lauren Yee at the Round House Theatre, Undo The Sea by Inda Craig-Galván with Primary Stages, Vietgone by Qui Nguyen (LADCC AWARD for Direction). New Play/ Musical Development: The Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Ashland New Plays Festival, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, New Harmony Project, CTG, PPF@SCR, Sông Collective, Black and Latino Playwrights’ Conference, Theatre Mu, Chance Theater, Boston Court, PlayOn!, East West Players, Artists at Play. Upcoming: American Fast by Kareem Fahmy at City Theatre (NNPN Rolling World Premiere), King of the Yees by Lauren Yee at Signature Theatre (VA) Her play The Devil is a Lie premieres in April 2023 with Quantum Theatre directed by Kyle Haden. SDCF Fichandler Award Finalist, Director’s Lab West, Drama League NY Fellow, Classical Directing Fellow at The Old Globe, Beatrice Terry Residency (Drama League). Associate Professor UCLA School of TFT. More info: www.changinator.com
James Chen recently wrapped his fifth season on CBS's “FBI” playing Analyst Ian Lim. He also entered intergalactic space this year on “The Mandalorian” and enjoyed a great arc on Jason Katim's Apple TV+ show, “Dear Edward.” You may also recognize him from five seasons as Kal on the world-wide cult favorite, “The Walking Dead,” or his two seasons as CSU Detective Adrian Sung on “Law & Order: SVU.” Other notable television and streaming work includes “Run The World” (STARZ), “Iron Fist” (Netflix), “Seven Seconds” (Netflix), “9-1-1” (FOX). He’s had the pleasure working opposite artists such as Kate Winslet, Jim Carey, Tilda Swinton, and Denis Leary in international studio films such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Labor Day, and We Need To Talk About Kevin. His award-winning performance as Ning in indie darling, Front Cover, is currently back on Netflix.
Grant Chang was recently seen recurring in “Law & Order: Organized Crime,” followed by a large guest star role in the season 10 premiere of the NBC series, “The Blacklist.” Grant was nominated for the 2021 LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award for Lead Actor in a Play for his role as 'Wen Chang' in Pasadena Playhouse and East West Players' co-production of Lauren Yee's The Great Leap, helmed by Tony Award winner BD Wong. Chang also received a 2019 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Lead Performance. After, he reprised his role at the Round House Theatre in DC, which was directed by Jennifer Chang. Previously, Grant recurred on the TNT series Mr. Robot and guest starred on series such as “Law & Order,” “The Knick,” “Deception,” and “House of Cards.” He is a graduate of NYU.
Teresa Avia Lim. Broadway: Ayad Akhtar's Junk at Lincoln Center. Other works: Shakespeare in the Park's all female production of Taming of the Shrew, NAATCO'S Awake and Sing, Macbeth, and Call and Response with the Mobile Shakespeare Unit at The Public Theater, Knight of the Burning Pestle with Fiasco and Redbull, Once Upon a Korean Time with Ma-Yi and Snow in Midsummer at Classic Stage. Teresa originated her roles in Peerless, Water by the Spoonful, Edith Can Shoot Things and Hit Them, and Concerning Strange Devices From the Distant West. TV: “Bupkis” (Peacock), “Monsterland” (Hulu), “The Code” (CBS), “Ray Donovan” (Showtime), “Group,” “Blue Bloods” (CBS), “Limitless” (CBS), “Unforgettable” (CBS), “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (NBC). Film: Dispatched, Take Me With You, All Rise. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and an inaugural Recipient of the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Scholarship.
Diana Oh (they/them/Zaza) is a multi-hyphenate Generative Artist — performer, musician, singer, songwriter, actor, director of their own work, maker of installations, rituals, performances, concerts, documentary film, and parties. Oh describes themselves as an open channel to the art that feels good to their body and is driven by pleasure, mutual care, and keeping things heart-centered. Oh’s {my lingerie play}, Infinite Love Party, Clairvoyance, Asian People are Not Magicians, Oh Family Concert, The Gift Project, music and more have been featured on PBS, NPR, Mic, SXSW, All Arts TV, Sundance, Huffington Post, People Magazine, Vulture, Upworthy, Vice, The National, MTV, Korean Broadcast Radio, Symphony Space, The Public Theatre, Institute of Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Bushwick Starr, Rattlestick Playwrights, The Harvard Arboretum, American Repertory Theatre, Harvard, Yale, Smith College, and University of Illinois. Oh travels with Shovels to unexpected places with their work say hi @ProfessionalLapDog @ohyeadiana.
Wipeout
Aurora Real de Asua is a playwright, filmmaker, and actor based in New York. This past year she has workshopped Wipeout at The Old Globe's Powers New Voices Festival and Rivendell Theatre's Fresh Produce Series. She's also had the pleasure of developing her work with The Playwright's Realm, Chicago Children's Theatre, Victory Gardens, sideshow, Greenhouse Theatre, and Story Theatre. She is a 2020 Elizabeth George commission at South Coast Repertory. Her one-woman play Aping Jane was a finalist for 2020's BLANK Theatre's Future of Playwriting Prize. Her short film Heartsong debuted on Shorts of the Week and has gone on to screen at the New York Latino FIlm Festival and the Midwest Film Festival, where it won two awards. She received a BA in theatre from Northwestern University and is currently getting her MFA in film at Columbia University.
Maggie Burrows is a film and theater director living in New York City. She has directed and developed works with Playwrights Horizons, The Atlantic, NYTW, WP, Williamstown Theater Festival and The Geffen Playhouse. Member Lincoln Center Directors Lab, nominee for Yale’s Sudler Prize, 2018 Sagal Directing Fellow at Williamstown Theater Festival, and the 2018-2020 BOLD Resident Director at Northern Stage. Select credits: Legally Blonde (MUNY), Man of God (Geffen/Williamstown),Indecent (Juilliard), Trayf (Geffen), Damsels (Williamstown), The Sound of Music (Northern Stage), Spacebar (Wild Project). Associate Director: My Fair Lady (Beaumont), The Taming of the Shrew (Delacorte) and Constellations (MTC). Film: Condolences and the GOTV video for Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote organization.
Becky Ann Baker may be most recognized for her mothering skills, or lack thereof, on two Judd Apatow series, “Freaks and Geeks” and “Girls” (earning Emmy and Critics’ Choice nominations in the latter as mom to Lena Dunham’s ‘Hannah’). Most recently she featured on “Ted Lasso,” “Billions,” “New Amsterdam,” and “Big Little Lies” and has had memorable spots on “Brockmire,” “The Good Fight,” “Gotham,” and “Younger.: On screen she’s worked with directors Ridley Scott (White Squall), Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black), Sam Raimi (A Simple Plan), and Steven Spielberg (War of the Worlds). Recently, she has filmed Holler and All Happy Families. An acclaimed theater actress as well, Becky was a member of the original companies of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Titanic, and Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins as well American theater classics All My Sons and A Streetcar Named Desire. Recently she co-starred with Frances McDormand in David Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People and was part of the acclaimed production of The Hairy Ape at the Park Avenue Armory.
Emily Kuroda worked at South Coast Rep (Tiger Style, Fast Company, Our Town, Ballad of Yachiyo), TheatreWorks (Language Archives, Calligraphy), New York Theatre Workshop (Endlings), Yale Rep (Today is My Birthday), Pan Asian (Brothers Paranormal), American Repertory Theater (Endlings), Page 73 (Today is My Birthday), Actors Theater of Louisville (we, the invisibles), Huntington Theater (Tiger Style, Woman Warrior), Artists at Play (Two Mile Hollow), Alliance Theater (Tiger Style), Sundance Theater Lab (Today is My Birthday, A Cage of Fireflies), East West Players (46 productions), Kirk Douglas, Mark Taper Forum, Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Singapore Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, The Doolittle, LATC, Zephyr, LA Women’s Shakespeare Company, and the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival. Selected TV: Mrs. Kim in “Gilmore Girls,” “The Power,” “All Rise,” “The Good Doctor,” “The Resident,” “Drop Dead Diva,” “Sequestered,” and as Sister Veronica in the upcoming series “The Power” for Amazon. Recent films: Kimi, Adopting Audrey, Take the 10, Party Boat, Red, Yellow Face, and Sensei. Awards: Dramalogue Ikebana, The Maids, Minamata, The Golden Gate, and Visitors from Nagasaki - LA Commendation (About Love) - Garland Straight as a Line. Entertainment Today (Winter People).
ABOUT WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL
For seven decades, the Tony Award-recognized Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought emerging and professional theater artists together in the Berkshires to create a thrilling summer festival of diverse, world premiere plays and musicals, bold new revivals, and a rich array of accompanying cultural events.
Artists are drawn to Williamstown Theatre Festival to make great theater in an environment conducive to artistic risk-taking. Matthew Broderick, Audra McDonald, Dominique Morisseau, Mary-Louise Parker, Susan Stroman, Uma Thurman, and Blair Underwood are just a few of the luminous theater artists who have worked at the Festival. Many others, including Sterling K. Brown, Ty Burrell, Charlie Day, Paul Giamatti, Kathryn Hahn, Allison Janney, Brie Larson, Chris Pine, and George C. Wolfe, began their careers at the Festival.
Productions and artists shaped at the Festival fill theaters in New York City and around the world. Recently, Williamstown Theatre Festival was represented on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally by The Sound Inside, Grand Horizons, The Rose Tattoo, The Visit, Fool for Love, The Elephant Man, Seared, Selling Kabul, Unknown Soldier, and Lempicka, to name just a few. Cost of Living, which was developed and premiered at Williamstown Theatre Festival, was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and made its Broadway debut last fall.
Learn more about Williamstown Theatre Festival at www.wtfestival.org.
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