FOOL FOR LOVE with Chris Pine & Lauren Ambrose, A GREAT WILDERNESS & More Set for WTF's 2014 Nikos Stage Season

Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced the 2014 Nikos Stage offerings, completing the 60th Anniversary Season for the Tony Award-winning theatre company. The Nikos Stage season kicks off on July 9th with the East Coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's acclaimed play A Great Wilderness (July 9 - 20) and will also include a revival of Sam Shepard's Fool For Love, directed by Daniel Aukin with Lauren Ambrose (making her Festival debut) and Chris Pine (returning to Williamstown after 12 years), playing July 24 - August 3. The Nikos Stage season ends with the anticipated return of the PigPen Theatre Co.'s celebrated production of The Old Man and the Old Moon (August 6 - 17).

As previously announced, WTF's 60th Anniversary Season will also include a revival of Ring Lardner and George S. Kaufman's June Moon, directed by WTF favorite Jessica Stone (July 2-13); the World Premiere of Living on Love by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro and Garson Kanin (based on Kanin's play Peccadillo), with celebrated soprano Renée Fleming in her Festival debut, directed by Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall (July 16 - 26), and the highly anticipated revival of Kander and Ebb's The Visit, featuring Tony Award winner Chita Rivera, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle (July 31 - August 17).

A Great Wilderness | July 9 - July 20, 2014
By Samuel D. Hunter

After decades as the gentle-natured leader of a Christian retreat that endeavors to "cure" gay teens, Walt is packing up his life and preparing for a reluctant retirement. But when his final client quietly disappears into the remote Idaho wilderness, Walt discovers that his previously unwavering moral compass no longer points the way. With profound humanity and subtlety, OBIE Award-winning playwright Samuel D. Hunter navigates complex moral terrain, exploring the shifting motives and inconstant strength of our personal convictions.

Fool For Love | July 24 - August 3, 2014
By Sam Shepard; Directed by Daniel Aukin
With Lauren Ambrose and Chris Pine

Holed up in a seedy motel on the edge of the Mojave Desert, two former lovers unpack the deep secrets and dark desires of their tangled relationship, passionately tearing each other apart. Beaten down by ill-fated love and a ruthless struggle for identity, can they ultimately live with, or without, each other? Led by director Daniel Aukin, riveting young actors Chris Pine - returning for the first time to the stage where he launched his career - and Lauren Ambrose, in her Festival debut, bring a raw sexy energy to Sam Shepard's landmark myth of the new Wild West.

The Old Man and the Old Moon | August 6 - 17, 2014
By PigPen Theatre Co.; Directed by Stuart Carden and PigPen Theatre Co.

The endlessly imaginative PigPen Theatre Co. comes to Williamstown with a luminously lo-fi spectacle that elevates traditional storytelling to high art. Their fantastical, song-filled tale takes us to the end of the world when an old man abandons his duty of filling the moon with liquid light to search for his missing wife. With a rollicking array of ever-changing characters, inventive theatrical effects, and an infectious contemporary folk sound, these seven young actor musicians transform the seemingly ordinary into sheer wonder.

Photos by Retna Ltd.;Walter McBride