Deirdre O'Connell, Ashley Park, Among Latest Casting for Williamstown Theatre Fest

Williamstown Theatre Festival announces additional casting and full creative teams for productions on the Main Stage and Nikos Stage, as well as summer artist residencies and Fridays@3 programming.

Joining the previously announced Main Stage and Nikos Stage casts are: Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Deirdre O'Connell (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, A Nervous Smile at WTF) in Before the Meeting, replacing the previously announced Ellen Barkin who had to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict, Tony and Drama Desk Award-nominee Ashley Park (Mean Girls) in Grand Horizons, Tony Award-winner Frank Wood (The Iceman Cometh) in A Human Being, of a Sort, Catherine Combs ("The Blind Side", Gloria) in Ghosts, Thom Sesma (Superhero) in Ghosts, and Owen Tabaka (The Music Man) in A Raisin in the Sun.

Fridays@3, a weekly new play reading series that offers the public opportunities to hear new plays read by members of the Festival company will include Tell Them I'm Still Young by Julia Doolittle, directed by Kel Haney, and featuring André Braugher. This reading will be read on July 5 at 3pm at The Clark Auditorium and joins the Fridays@3 lineup of six previously announced readings. After an accident changes their family forever, Allen and Kay's marriage becomes both a life raft and a battleground. Grasping onto their careers, their youth, and sometimes other people, can this couple rescue their bond amidst unimaginable grief?

The 2019 Williamstown Theatre Festival Season Sneak Peek & New Play Reading of Private by Mona Pirnot and directed by Maya Davis, features Abby Awe ("God Friended Me"), Danny Deferrari ("Private Life", Fifth of July at WTF), Justin Long ("Safe Spaces", Romance Novels for Dummies at WTF), andZoë Winters (White Noise). Private will be read on June 6 at 7pm at The Clark Auditorium.

The full creative teams for Williamstown Theatre Festival's 2019 Main Stage and Nikos Stage productions include: Tony Award-winner and Drama Desk-nominee Clint Ramos (Scenic Designer), Alice Tavener (Costume Designer), Alex Jainchill (Lighting Designer), and Elisheba Itoop (Sound Designer) for A Raisin in the Sun (June 25 - July 13); Clint Ramos (Scenic Designer and Costume Designer), Jen Schriever (Lighting Designer), and Obie and Helen HayesAward-winner and Drama Desk-nominee Palmer Hefferan (Sound Designer) for Grand Horizons (July 17 - July 28); Obie Award-winner and Tony nomineeDane Laffrey (Scenic Designer and Costume Designer), Obie and Helen Hayes Award-winner James F. Ingalls (Lighting Designer), David Coulter(Composer), and Beth Lake (Sound Designer) for Ghosts (July 31 - August 18); Lawrence E. Moten III (Scenic Designer), Tilly Grimes (Costume Designer),Amith Chandrashaker (Lighting Designer), and Sina Refik Zafar (Sound Designer) for A Human Being, of a Sort (June 26 - July 7); Arnulfo Maldonado(Scenic Designer), Dina El-Aziz (Costume Designer), Jen Schriever (Lighting Designer), and Beth Lake (Sound Designer) for Selling Kabul (July 10 - July 20);Alexander Woodward (Scenic Designer), Tilly Grimes (Costume Designer), Obie Award-winner Isabella Byrd (Lighting Designer), and Palmer Hefferan(Sound Designer) for Tell Me I'm Not Crazy (July 24 - August 3); and Mark Wendland (Scenic Designer), Obie Award-winner Sarah Laux (Costume Designer),Jen Schriever (Lighting Designer), and Tony and Obie Award-winner and Drama Desk-nominee Darron L. West (Sound Designer) for Before the Meeting(August 7 - 18).

Every summer, through WTF's New Play and Musical Development Initiative, dozens of artists develop new work for the Festival by participating in residencies and workshops in and around Williamstown. This year's artists include Aziza Barnes (Blks), Teddy Bergman (K-Pop), Emma Horwitz, Salty Brine (The Living Record Collection), Justin Levine (The Outsiders), Nathan Alan Davis (Nat Turner in Jerusalem), Selina Fillinger (Something Clean), Dave Harris(Everybody Black), Jessica Hecht (The Clean House at WTF), Matthew Lopez (The Inheritance), Carey Perloff (Kinship at WTF), Max Posner (The Treasurer), Tyne Rafaeli (I Was Most Alive With You), Anna Ziegler (Actually at WTF), Abby Rosebrock (Blue Ridge), Sarah Ruhl (The Clean House at WTF), Benjamin Scheuer (The Lion), Al Smith (Diary of a Madman), Paris Monster, and Cody Owen Stine.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos