Williamstown Theatre Festival Announces Casting For Season, Thompson, Martin, Baker And More To Star

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Nicholas Martin has announced the cast of the final Nikos Stage show of the 2009 season, Caroline in Jersey by Melinda Lopez (Sonia Flew, Alexandros) and directed by Amanda Charlton (WTF Artistic Associate, Dissonance) playing August 5-16.

The cast includes Will Lebow (Sheer Madness, "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist", ART Company Member), Matt McGrath (Cabaret, "Boys Don't Cry", Beyond Therapy), Lea Thompson (Back to the Future I, II, & III, Cabaret, "Caroline in the City"), and Brenda Wehle (Come Back, Little Sheba, Pygmalion, Stuff Happens).

The design team for Caroline in Jersey is set designer Andrew Boyce, costume designer Emily Rebholz, lighting designer Jake DeGroot, sound designer Bart Fasbender, and original music by Kyle Jarrow. The production stage manager is Libby Unsworth.

In this play, Caroline is down and out in New Jersey. She's having a nervous breakdown, her career as an actress is tragically dwindling, and a peculiar stranger has made his presence known in her new apartment. Can she find a way to conquer it all? This funny and touching new play follows one woman's whole-hearted attempt to accept the past and take hold of the future, despite the many surprises that might pop up along the way.

In addition, the Williamstown Theatre Festival will host Blanche and Beyond, a one-man show adapted and directed by Steve Lawson ("St. Elsewhere," Williamstown Film Festival) and featuring Richard Thomas ("The Waltons", Democracy, Taking Woodstock). This event will play the Main Stage for one night only, Sunday, August 2 at 7pm. Tickets for this special event will be specially priced at $25.00.Based on the hilarious, raunchy, and poignant letters which Tennessee Williams wrote between 1945 and 1957, Blanche and Beyond is the stage sequel to Lawson's A Distant Country Called Youth. While the first play traced the evolution of a young man finding his artistic voice, Blanche and Beyond spans the peak of Williams' career - the period of Streetcar, Rose Tattoo, Summer and Smoke, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - and explores a no-longer obscure playwright facing the seismic shock of international fame.

_______________________________________

Also, Andrea Martin (Tony Award - My Favorite Year, Exit the King, Young Frankenstein, My Big, Fat Greek Wedding) has joined the cast of The Torch-Bearers by George Kelly, adapted and directed by Dylan Baker. She will appear with the previously announced Becky Ann Baker, Yusef Bulos, John Doherty, Katie Finneran, Phillip Goodwin, Jessica Hecht, Edward Herrmann, Lizbeth MacKay, John Rubenstein, Marian Seldes, and James Waterston. Dana Ivey has had to withdraw due to a recently sustained knee injury. The production runs on the Main Stage from July 29- August 9.

Ticketing information for the 2009 Williamstown Theatre Festival Season can be obtained online at www.wtfestival.org or by calling 413-597-3400.

Continuing our 55-year history and under the artistic direction of Nicholas Martin, the Williamstown Theatre Festival brings award-winning actors, directors and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. A WTF season covers a broad range of theatrical endeavors, revisiting classic plays with exciting new productions on our Main Stage, developing and nurturing bold new works on our Nikos Stage, and offering audiences a rich array of cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night Cabarets, readings, workshops, and educational programs like the Greylock Theatre Project-a program for children in neighboring North Adams. While best known for our acclaimed productions, WTF is also home to unparalleled training and professional development programs serving new generations of aspiring theatre artists and managers. WTF was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2002.

For more information visit www.wtfestival.org.

WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL

2009 SEASON SUMMARY

MAIN STAGE:

Children
By A.R. Gurney
Directed by John Tillinger
With: Mary Bacon, Katie Finneran, Judith Light, James Waterston
July 1 - 12, 2009

True West
By Sam Shepard
Directed by Daniel Goldstein
With Nate Corddry, Stephen Kunken, Debra Jo Rupp, Paul Sparks
July 15 - 26, 2009

The Torch-Bearers
By George Kelly
Adapted and directed by Dylan Baker
With: Becky Ann Baker, Yusef Bulos, John Doherty, Katie Finneran, Phillip Goodwin, Jessica Hecht, Edward Herrmann, Lizbeth MacKay, Andrea Martin, John Rubinstein, Marian Seldes, James Waterston
July 29 - August 9, 2009

Quartermaine's Terms
By Simon Gray
Directed by Maria Aitken
With: Jeremy Beck, Ann Dowd, Morgan Hallett, John Horton, Simon Jones, Stephen Kunken, Jefferson Mays
August 12 - 23, 2009

NIKOS STAGE:

Knickerbocker
By Jonathan Marc Sherman
Directed by Nicholas Martin
With: Brooks Ashmanskas, Peter Dinklage, Bob Dishy, Rightor Doyle, Annie Parisse, Susan Pourfar, Reg Rogers
July 8 - 19, 2009

What Is The Cause Of Thunder?
By Noah Haidle
Directed by Justin Waldman
With: Betty Gilpin, Wendie Malick
July 22 - August 2, 2009

Caroline In Jersey
By Melinda Lopez
Directed by Amanda Charlton
With: Will Lebow, Matt McGrath, Lea Thompson, Brenda Wehle
August 5 - 16, 2009

For more information visit www.wtfestival.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.