Kind, Gets, Paulson, Witt, Etc. Added to Williamstown Fest

Williamstown Theatre Festival announces additional casting and directors for the upcoming season.        

Richard Kind (The Producers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, "Mad About You," "Spin City") plays Walter Burns in The Front Page on the Main Stage July 4 – 15. Directing the production is Ron Daniels.  Daniels is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he served as Artistic Director of The Other Place in Stratford.  He has extensive directing credits in New York, London, Boston and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Jessica Hecht (Julius Caesar, After The Fall, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, the film Sideways) plays Ruth in Blithe Spirit on the Main Stage July 18-29.   

Elizabeth Franz (Tony Award for Death of a Salesman, Tony-nominee for Brighton Beach Memoirs and Morning's at Seven) plays Mary Ellis in The Autumn Garden on the Main Stage August 15-26.  Mamie Gummer (Mr. Marmalade, The Water's Edge, the film The Hoax) plays Sophie Tuckerman.   Maryann Plunkett (Tony Award for Me and My Girl, Sunday in the Park with George) plays Rose Griggs.  Jay O. Sanders (Loose Ends, The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Stuff Happens) plays General Benjamin Griggs.  They join previously announced Allison Janney, who plays Constance Tuckerman.

Daniel Gerroll (Enchanted April, High Society, The Homecoming) plays James in the world premiere of Dissonance on the Nikos Stage June 27 – July 8.   Alicia Witt ("Cybill," Mr. Holland's Opus, the plays Piano Forte and The Shape of Things in London) plays Beth.   

Malcolm Gets (Tony-nominee for Amour, A New Brain, Merrily We Roll Along, "Caroline in the City") plays Orlando in the world premiere of Party Come Here on the Nikos Stage July 25 – Aug. 5.  Kate Reinders (Wicked, Gypsy, Into the Woods) plays Kate. They join previously announced Hunter Foster, who plays Jack, and Kaitlin Hopkins, who plays Liberty.

Roger Rees (Tony Award and Olivier Award for Nicholas Nickleby, "Grey's Anatomy") plays Sir Isaac Newton in The Physicists on the Center Stage Aug. 7-18.   

Sarah Paulson (The Glass Menagerie, The Sisters Rosensweig, the film Down with Love, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip") plays Meg Magrath in Crimes of the Heart on the Nikos Stage Aug. 8-19. Lily Rabe (Heartbreak House, Steel Magnolias, the film Mona Lisa Smile) plays Babe Motrello. 

Gets will direct the Late-Night Cabaret.  The Cabaret features singing, dancing and comedy from stars both established and emerging who are appearing in other Festival productions.  There are two editions of the Cabaret:  July 12-14 and August 9-11. 

Tickets for the Festival's productions are available Fri. June 1 online at www.wtfestival.org and Mon. June 4 at the box office and by phone at 413.597.3400.

With this additional casting, the season is as follows:

Herringbone
Starring B.D. Wong
Book by Tom Cone, Music by Skip Kennon, Lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, Based on the play by Tom Cone
Directed by Roger Rees
June 14 – 24 Center Stage
"B.D. Wong stars as one of vaudeville's greatest child stars in this unconventional, hilarious and ultimately heart-breaking one-man musical."

Dissonance
Starring Daniel Gerroll and Alicia Witt
By Damian Lanigan – World Premiere  
Directed by Amanda Charlton
June 27 – July 8 Nikos Stage
"Members of the Bradley String Quartet may have their artistic differences, but those issues pale when a rock star invades their classical comfort zone."

The Front Page 
Starring Richard Kind
By Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Directed by Ron Daniels
July 4 – 15 Main Stage
"It's the hottest story since the Chicago Fire.  And they're sitting on it!"

Villa America
By Crispin Whittell – World Premiere
Directed by Crispin Whittell
July 11 – 22 Nikos Stage
"They migrated to France in the 1920's, and their names are still legend – Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Picasso – and at the center of their circle were Gerald and Sara Murphy."

Blithe Spirit 
Starring Jessica Hecht
By Noel Coward
Directed by Maria Mileaf
July 18 – 29 Main Stage
"While conducting research for a new book, author Charles Condomine and his second wife Ruth invite the local mystic, Madame Arcati, to hold a séance.  The unfortunate result is that Charles' first wife Elvira is summoned from beyond the grave to rally all the powers of heaven and hell to darken Charles and Ruth's lives."

Party Come Here
Starring Hunter Foster, Malcolm Gets, Kaitlin Hopkins & Kate Reinders
Book by Daniel Goldfarb, music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum World Premiere
Directed by Christopher Ashley
July 25 – Aug. 5 Nikos Stage
"Part farce, part fable, Party Come Here is a musical comedy that promises a collision of cultures as tantalizing as the sexiest city in the world."

The Corn is Green
Starring Kate Burton
By Emlyn Williams
Directed by Nicholas Martin
Aug. 1 – 12  Main Stage
"Shocked by conditions in a Welsh mining town, schoolteacher Lily Moffat is hell-bent on offering the illiterate locals the fundamentals of a decent education."

The Physicists
Starring Roger Rees
By Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Translated by James Kirkup
Directed by Kevin O'Rourke
In Association with the Williams College Summer Theatre Lab
Aug. 7 – 18 Center Stage
"Three inmates at the Cherry Trees Sanatorium believe themselves to be Einstein, Newton and Möbius.  Are they madmen?  Murderers?  Or exactly who they claim they are?"

Crimes of the Heart
Starring Sarah Paulson & Lily Rabe
By Beth Henley
Directed by Kathleen Turner
Aug. 8 – 19  Nikos Stage
"Ancient feuds bubble to the surface when the Magrath sisters are forced to cope with the latest disaster to disrupt their lives."

The Autumn Garden
Starring Elizabeth Franz, Mamie Gummer, Allison Janney, Maryann Plunkett & Jay O. Sanders
By Lillian Hellman
Directed by David Jones
Aug. 15 – 26  Main Stage
"In a summer resort in 1949, seven friends confronting middle age assess the choices they have made and the lives they have led, clinging to the hope that they will once more be at peace."

Other events are:

Uncle Sam I Am: A Patriotic Revue, June 21-24 Nikos Stage.    A rousing presentation of songs, poetry, historical speeches and humorous anecdotes
Piano Recital featuring prize-winners of the New York Piano Competition, June 25 Brooks-Rogers Hall
Reading of Don Juan in Hell by George Bernard Shaw, July 2 Nikos Stage
Wing It, Free Theatre, July 9-15 Main Stage
Late-Night Cabaret, July 12-14 Location TBD
Kids' Theatre Day, July 14 9:30
leapFROG play, July 16-18 Goodrich Hall
What You Will: By and About the Bard– Developed by and starring Roger Rees, July 23 Main Stage   
An Evening with James Naughton, July 30 Nikos Stage
Greylock Theatre project Playmaking Performance Aug. 6 Main Stage
leapFROG Musical Aug. 13-15  Goodrich Hall
Late-Night Cabaret Aug. 9-11 Location TBD 

Photos - Richard Kind, Malcolm Gets and Sarah Paulson