WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! World Premiere Opens Tonight at Williamstown Theatre Festival, 8/9

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced today the opening of the World Premiere of WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! by Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall, beginning performances tonight, August 9, 2012. WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! is the final show to open in Williamstown Theatre Festival's 2012 season.

The World Premiere of WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! is directed by May Adrales (Goodman Theatre's Mary, WTF's 2008 Fellowship Play Cold Hard Cash). The ensemble features Tina Benko (Irena's Vow), Aaron Costa Ganis (Public Theater's 365 Days/365 Plays), Brian Tyree Henry (The Book of Mormon), Greta Lee (4000 Miles), Andres Munar (Blood and Gifts), Kathy Searle (Apple Cove), and Carolyn Michelle Smith (The Acting Company's As You Like It).

One-percenter Eden Higgenbotham (Benko) lives a cushy Upper-East-Side life surrounded by equally affluent, vain, and snobbish friends. When a sudden stroke causes her to contract the very rare Foreign Accent Syndrome, which makes her speak uncontrollably with a Jamaican accent, she's forced to embrace a dramatically altered identity. Irreverent and hilarious, WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! is a searing satire of race and class by the Olivier Award-winning writer of The Mountaintop, Katori Hall.

The creative team includes David Gallo (Scenic Design), ESosa (Costume Design), Gina Scherr (Lighting Design), and Jill BC Du Boff (Sound Design). Jenny Dewar is the Production Stage Manager.

WHADDABLOODCLOT!!!is produced in association with New York's Signature Theatre where Katori Hall is a member of their Residency Five Program.

As previously announced, the complete 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival season runs from June 26 – August 19, 2012 and includes Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, a Preview Production of the new musical Far From Heaven, and a new translation of Ivan Turgenev's A Month in the Country on the Main Stage, with Lucy Boyle's The Blue Deep, Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Bernard Pomerance's The Elephant Man, and Katori Hall's WHADDABLOODCLOT!!!on the Nikos Stage. The season also included a special workshop production of David Byrne's Here Lies Love, which played at nearby MASS MoCA.

Since 1955, the Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought America's finest actors, directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. Each WTF season is designed to present unique opportunities for artists and audience alike, revisiting classic plays with innovative productions, developing and nurturing bold new plays and musicals, and offering a rich array of accompanying cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night Cabarets, readings, workshops, and educational programs. While best known for our acclaimed productions, WTF is also home to one of the nation's top training and professional development programs for new generations of aspiring theatre artists and administrators. Now under the leadership of Artistic Director Jenny Gersten, WTF was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2002 and The Commonwealth Award for Achievement in 2011.

Tickets to the Williamstown Theatre Festival may be purchased online (www.wtfestival.org), by phone at 413-597-3400, or in person at the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance Box Office at 1000 Main St (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167.

The Festival's Nikos Stage is an intimate 173-seat venue that regularly sells out in advance from within the pool of Festival donors.

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